James Cameron describes strategy for surviving the Titanic disaster

Filmmaker says he likes to discuss hypotheticals with other ‘Titanic experts’

James Cameron, the filmmaker behind the hit 1997 disaster movie Titanic, has revealed his strategy for hypothetically surviving the famed 1912 cruise liner sinking.

Titanic starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and is one of the highest-grossing films of all time. The film was set during the sinking of the RMS Titanic, which claimed the lives of more than 1,500 people.

In a new interview, Cameron was asked by The Hollywood Reporter: “If you were traveling by yourself as a second-class passenger on Titanic when it hit an iceberg, what would you have done?”

As the interviewer explained, third-class passengers were trapped below decks, while first-class passengers were more likely to secure a spot on the lifeboats.

“I think there were interesting ways to what-if or second-guess the whole thing,” Cameron replied. “One I like to play with my Titanic experts is – with what we know now, and if you had the captain’s ear – how could you save everybody?

“The other is: What if you’re a time traveler, you go back and want to experience the sinking, and your little time-travel thing that gets you back fails, and you’re like, ‘Oh f***, I’m really on the ship, I’ve got to get off it.'”

DiCaprio and Winslet in 'Titanic' (Fox)

In this latter scenario, Cameron argued that the best thing to do would be to stand by the edge of the deck, and wait for a lifeboat to launch during the early stages of the evacuation. At this point, he would jump off, and swim to the boat, relying on the passengers to pull him aboard.

“Most people wouldn’t have had the courage to jump into the water,” he continued. “They couldn’t quite believe that the ship was really going to sink. But if you knew for sure it was going to sink and you weren’t on a lifeboat, you jump in the water next to the boat the second it casts off.

“Once they rowed away, you were screwed. Are they going to let you drown when Titanic is still there and everybody is watching? No, they’d pull you in, and the officers would go, ‘Well, f***, there’s nothing I can do about that.’ Boat four would be a good one for this.”

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Cameron’s latest film, Avatar: Fire & Ash, is cinemas now. The blockbuster movie is the third entry in the director’s hit Avatar franchise.

Reviewing Fire & Ash for The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “At 197 minutes long, the third film in his Avatar series may make you feel like a restless child forced to sit through an Easter sermon.”