Leonardo DiCaprio almost lost out on his iconic role in Titanic because he refused to read lines to director James Cameron.
The acclaimed film won an incredible 11 Academy Awards following its release in 1998 and made household names out of Leo and co-star Kate Winslet.
However, director James – who is preparing to release the sequel to his other record-breaking movie Avatar – has revealed Leo almost lost the part.
Speaking to GQ, James went on a deep dive (excuse the pun) into the making of Titanic, and recalled how the then-21-year-old Leo utterly ‘charmed’ him in their first meeting.
Having already cast Kate as Rose Dewitt-Bukater, James arranged for Leo to return a few days later for a chemistry test with the Mare of Easttown star.
But when Leo showed up and was asked to read lines, he was shocked -and initially refused to do so.
‘He didn’t know he was going to test, he thought it was another meeting to meet Kate. And I said, “We’ll run some lines and I’ll video it.”
‘And [Leo] said: “you mean I’m reading?” And I said “yeah.” And he said, “I don’t read.”
At this point, James recalled, he simply shook Leo’s hand and told him: ‘well, thanks for coming by.’
To which an astounded Leo allegedly replied: ‘You mean if I don’t read I don’t get the part, just like that?’
James explained to the young actor that Titanic was a ‘giant movie’ that would take up years of his life while Leo would be ‘gone doing five other things… and I’m not going to f*** it up by making a wrong decision in casting.
‘So you’re going to read or you’re not going to get the part.’
At this point in the interview, James mimicked Leo doing an exasperated sigh and saying: ‘Ohhhh, okay.’
‘Every ounce of his entire being is so negative – right up until I said “Action,” and then he turned into Jack.
‘Kate just lit up and they went into this whole thing. He played the scene. Dark clouds had opened up and the sun rays came down and lit up Jack. And I was like, “alright. He’s the guy.’”
So Leo got the part – but things weren’t exactly plain sailing from there. (Again, apologies for the accidental pun.)
James recalled how, after signing on to the project, Leo came to him and started suggesting edits to the scripts and even to Jack’s character, to potentially give him an ‘affliction’ or past trauma.
The director told the actor that while the characters he had played in the past had afflictions or problems, Jack did not, and he had to learn to ‘play the centre,’ which is ‘much harder.’
‘Those are props, those are crutches This is much harder and I don’t think you’re quite ready for it – and at that moment it clicked for him that this was a really challenging film for him.’
James added: ‘Try to imagine that movie without Leo or Kate, it’s very hard to do.’
While Leonardo went on to become one of the biggest names in Hollywood, Kate backed away from the spotlight for a number of years, having struggled under the pressure of fame and – shockingly – having been continuously asked to address her weight.
In a 2021 interview with The Guardian, she said it was ‘almost laughable’ how ‘shocking, critical and cruel’ the comments about her weight were in the media, especially given she was so young.
‘It damaged my confidence. I didn’t want to go to Hollywood because I remember thinking, “God, if this is what they’re saying to me in England, then what will happen when I get there?”
‘Also, it tampers with your evolving impression of what’s beautiful.’
