WASHINGTON: Fans have been debating whether Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack might have survived by floating on the improvised door raft with Kate Winslet’s Rose for almost two decades.
And, in December, James Cameron teased that he had conducted scientific research to show once and for all that the finale of ‘Titanic’ made sense.
According to Variety, a US-based media house, the scientific analysis will be described in the upcoming National Geographic episode ‘Titanic: 25 Years Later With James Cameron.’
While Cameron first told the press that forensic research indicated “just one could survive” on the door raft, he does reveal in the episode that Jack “could have lived.”
Variety reports, to test multiple possibilities and results, the filmmaker recruited two stunt performers with height and weight identical to DiCaprio and Winslet at the time of filming and replicated the ‘Titanic; raft scene in a pool.
However, Cameron disproves the fan idea that there was simply enough room on the raft for both Jack and Rose to survive in the first test. While there is enough room for “Jack and Rose to jump on the raft,” Cameron noted that they are now both submerged in dangerously cold water. In this scenario, the footage shows most of the stunt duo’s bodies submerged in water.
Cameron fit both Jack and Rose on the raft again in the second test, but this time he positioned their bodies so that their upper halves (which comprise essential organs) remained above water. In this environment, their odds of survival rose.
“Out of the water, [his body’s] violent shaking was helping him,” Cameron said. “Projecting it out, he could’ve made it pretty long. Like, hours.”
However, as per Variety, this scenario raises the question of endurance. The stunt performers were well-rested and able to keep their upper bodies above water for extended periods of time. Could Jack and Rose have followed suit? By the time the characters arrive at the raft in the film, they’ve undergone hours of arduous chases, probable drownings, battles, and the Titanic’s whole sinking.
Neither persona is likely to have the fresh endurance of the stunt people to hold the body positions required to survive for long.
Cameron had the stunt people undergo all of the strenuous action that Jack and Rose go through in the film for the third and final test in order to tyre them out. Cameron also inserted a scene that does not appear in the film: Rose offers Jack her life jacket, as per Variety.
“He’s stabilized,” Cameron said. “He got into a place where if we projected that out, he just might’ve made it until the lifeboat got there. Jack might’ve lived, but there are a lot of variables. I think his thought process was, ‘I’m not going to do one thing that jeopardized her,’ and that’s 100 per cent in character.”
So there you have it: Jack “might’ve lived” if Rose handed him her life vest. But, of course, that didn’t happen in the movie! (ANI)