Leonardo DiCaprio originally showed no interest in playing the lead role in the epic tragic romance movie “Titanic,” according to Hollywood director James Cameron, and thought the storyline was “boring.”
In a new conversation with People magazine, an American weekly, Cameron reportedly shared the incident, as reported by American media outlet Variety.
DiCaprio had declined to screen test for the movie, the director previously admitted to GQ magazine. Before awarding DiCaprio the role of Jack, Cameron wanted him to screen test with Kate Winslet, who had already been cast as Rose.
“He didn’t want to do a leading man. I had to really twist his arm to be in the movie. He didn’t want to do it. He thought it was boring. [He] accepted the part only when I convinced him that it was actually a difficult challenge,” Cameron was quoted saying.
“I had the camera set up to record the video. Leo didn’t know he was going to test. He thought it was another meeting to meet Kate. So I said, ‘Okay, we’ll just go in the next room, and we’ll run some lines and I’ll video it.’ And he said, ‘You mean, I’m reading?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Oh, I don’t read.’ I shook his hand and said, ‘Thanks for coming by,'” Cameron said, according to Variety.
Moreover, DiCaprio was an unknown face in the mid-1990s. He had roles in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and The Quick and the Dead, but he wasn’t quite as well-known then as he is today. His performance as Jack in Titanic was eventually made even more delightful by the fact that he wasn’t already a huge celebrity, declaring to Hollywood and the rest of the globe that he’s a gem to watch. Due to DiCaprio’s lower profile, his performance was initially exciting to find but has since improved pleasantly with repeated viewings.
In the end, DiCaprio took a screen test, and the rest is history. According to Variety, “Titanic” will make a brand-new 4K restoration and will return to theatres on February 10 to mark its 25th anniversary.
Despite being a student and an athlete, Sachin never lets himself be confined merely to sports or academics and rightly shows vivid interest in work behind the lenses thus, making him the right fit for being a content creator at Landscape Insight. He serves the website with various reports from the entertainment industries right from web series to movies. When not found writing, he enjoys listening to music and playing video games.
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