Director James Cameron says 'Mythbusters' was wrong about the ending of 'Titanic'
In the 1997 movie, Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) sacrifices his position on a floating piece of debris so that Rose (Kate Winslet) could survive the historic ship's sinking. But many viewers have suggested that both could've stayed on the makeshift raft and survived.
That was the question "Mythbusters" set out to answer in a 2013 episode. At first, it seemed as if the movie's deaths made sense when a comparable piece of wood debris seemed too wobbly to hold hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage in open water for any length of time. They then had the idea of using a life vest, which Rose was wearing, wedged under the piece of wood, and that made all the difference. They determined that "Jack's death was needless."
Cameron even made an appearance on the episode and accepted that he "screwed up," but he had a movie script to follow and Jack's death had to happen. But after nearly four years, Cameron has decided that the "Mythbusters" duo got one thing wrong.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Cameron argued that Jack would've died of hypothermia in the freezing 28-degree water before he had time to repurpose Rose's life vest and secure it to the wooden board.
"[Jack's] best choice was to keep his upper body out of the water and hope to get pulled out by a boat or something before he died," Cameron said. "They're fun guys and I loved doing that show with them, but they're full of s---."
Watch the "Titanic" experiment from "Mythbusters" below to see if you agree with Cameron's new assessment: