James Cameron recreated the door scene from Titanic to test if Jack could have survived

Titanic hits theaters again for the 25th anniversary with a remastered version in 4K quality in 3D. James Cameron’s historical epic was the first of his last three movies, which would cross two billion dollars as Avatar: The Way of Water‘s continued reign recently accomplished that feat. Now that the prolific action sci-fi director will be re-welcoming the film featuring the infamous doomed romance to cinemas, Entertainment Weekly reports that Cameron used his bottomless resources to recreate the pivotal moment that killed off Jack Dawson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Ever since the film was released, it made millions of teenage girls cry with Jack’s sacrifice of letting Rose stay afloat on a piece of a door from the sunken ship while he perish in the freezing water. In a popular internet debate, people wonder if there was enough room on the door for Jack to prevent his demise. Cameron celebrates his 25th anniversary with a NatGeo special revisiting the event and film. In the special, Cameron tested four different scenarios in which Jack climbed aboard with Rose.

Scenario number one, which Good Morning America previews, “Jack and Rose are able to get on the raft, but now they’re both submerged in dangerous levels of freezing water,” Cameron observes. The next set-up fits both actors on the raft in a position that lifts their upper bodies and vital organs out of the water, increasing their chances for survival. “Out of the water, [his body’s] violent shaking was helping him. Projecting it out, he could’ve made it pretty long. Like, hours.” In the final test, as Jack and Rose make their way to the door, as played out in the movie, Rose adds to the situation by giving a life jacket to Jack. Cameron, looking on, says, “He’s stabilized. 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’s 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 percent in character.”

Titanic: 25 Years Later With James Cameron premieres this Sunday at 9 ET on National Geographic and streams Monday on Hulu.