The death of Jack, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Titanic, has sparked discussion over the decades among fans who believe he didn’t need to be dead in one of the classic’s final scenes, when Rose (Kate Winslet) floats on a wreck of the ship as it dies in freezing water. 25 years after the film’s release, director James Cameron says he intends to refute the critics on stage.

“We did a scientific study to drive a stake through the heart and end this story once and for all. […] Maybe I didn’t do it in a way everyone understood, but Jack had to die. It’s so simple. If I were to make the door smaller, it would be smaller,” James Cameron told Canadian newspaper The Toronto Sun during an interview promoting Avatar 2: The Way of the Water.

When asked if he would have regretted killing off Jack Dawson’s character, he replied, “No, he needed to die. It’s like Romeo and Juliet. It’s a movie about the love, sacrifice and mortality. Love measured by sacrifice.”

The idea is that the scientific study to which James Cameron refers will be broadcast on the National Geographic Channel at the same time as the exhibition of a remastered version of Titanic which opens in the United States on February 14, 2023. ” Maybe… Maybe after 25 years, I don’t have to worry about it anymore,” he hopes.

This isn’t the first time the director will reprise the film, which marked a milestone in his career. In 2017 he released another documentary, Titanic: 20th Anniversary, revisiting the wreckage of the ship with divers.