James Cameron and 'MythBusters' Will Prove Rose Did Not Needlessly Let Jack Die in 'Titanic'

Shortly after the April 2012 release of Titanic 3D, a small Internet movement arose questioning why Kate Winslet's Rose did not allow Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack to share the plank she used as a life raft -- fating him to a sure death in the frigid arctic waters where ship met iceberg.

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A widely circulated photograph even illustrated just how much spare room was on the plank -- enough for two people to engage in a game of Go Fish, for example.

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Director James Cameron is aware of the debate, as he reveals in a recent interview with IGN. He's ready to clear Rose's good name, and will team up with the mighty debunkers of Discovery's MythBusters to do it.

“It’s interesting,” Cameron says, “cause I think MythBusters is gonna tackle this problem, and I’m gonna help them do it, actually. We’re gonna put it to rest.” 

Cameron then explains something that many of the pro-Rosers have been arguing all along: that the size of the plank had nothing to do with it.

"Actually, it's not a question of room, it's a question of buoyancy," Cameron explains. "When Jack puts Rose on the raft, then he tries to get on the raft. He's not an idiot, he doesn't want to die. And the raft sinks and kind of flips. So it's clear that there's only enough buoyancy available for one person. So he makes a decision to let her be that person instead of taking them both down."

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"If you know anything about hypothermia, the more you're submerged -- and she's completely out of the water on the raft, and it's only about that far above the surface. If they he had gotten on with her they both would have been half in and half out of the water, even if they could balance on it, and they would have both died," Cameron says. (The exchange begins at 4:20 in the first video below. The second video features the Titanic scene in question.)

Does the theory float? Stay tuned for an upcoming MythBusters to find out.