Amid the huge success of ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ (2022), director James Cameron went down memory lane and spoke about his other classic films, including ‘Titanic’ (1997) as well.
While talking to People magazine at the Golden Globe Awards 2023, Cameron shared a big secret about Leonardo DiCaprio and said that the actor did not want to play the role of Jack Dawson in ‘Titanic’. Although the film remains the biggest hit of Leo’s career, seems like convincing the actor was quite a tough work for the director.
Cameron shared, “He (Leonardo DiCaprio) 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.”
“I think about that casting Leonardo and Kate in ‘Titanic’. Leo, the studio didn’t want him; I had to fight for him. Kate really liked him and then Leonardo decided he didn’t want to make the movie. So then I had to talk him into it. You think at any one of those places, if that had really kind of frayed apart, it would have been somebody else and it wouldn’t have been that film. I can’t imagine that film without him and without her”, James further continued explaining how hard it was to fight with Leonardo.
The 68-year old director shared that the only way he could convince Leo for the role is explaining that how difficult the character was actually, “It didn’t surprise me, first of all, that he’s made a lot of authentic choices going forward. And secondly, I never doubted his talent.”
Last year ‘Titanic’ completed its Silver Jubilee (25 years) and after all these years, it still stands high as one of the highest grossing film ever made in the world.
