Han Solo could’ve been played by either Burt Reynolds or Al Pacino. Both Will Smith and Ewan McGregor turned down the role of Neo, in The Matrix trilogy. Sean Connery rejected the role of Gandalf, in the Lord of The Rings trilogy, due to the length of time for filming. Before Inception, what famous/infamous roles did Leonardo DiCaprio pass up?
According to Leo he met with Schumacher for Robin in Batman Forever. That role went to Chris O’Donnell who is presumably sleeping on the street somewhere right now. He was in talks to play Anakin in the Star Wars prequels and while you might think he’d have been better than Hayden Christensen, remember that Lucas has a talent for making great actors seem awful. Just look at what he did to Natalie Portman. They talked to him about playing Spider-Man before the part went to Tobey Maguire. Leo said no thanks to that one too.
Wow. Talk about career changing decisions. Do you guys imagine what could’ve happened to this guy’s career if he had chosen to do Robin? I think he would’ve been great as Anakin. But we all know George Lucas could’ve made him look bad; he is known for doing that to great actors. Of all, I’m surprised that DiCaprio was offered Spider-Man. I don’t think he would’ve fit the Peter Parker role. He would’ve managed, but I think it was best fit for someone as Tobey Maguire. I’m glad he made those great choices; he’s now one of the best actors of our generation. He has two great films out this year already: Shutter Island and Inception. Keep it up.
What do you guys think? Do you think he dodge some bullets? Or did you want to see him in some of these roles?
Leo is good at judging roles that suits him , glad that he didnt choose the roles offered . Hez no good for super-hero . I loved his inception, shutter island ..Thats HIM :)
My Gawd… Dicapprio as Anikan?! He would have been brilliant! Despite Lucas… he even looked like young Ani..
I heard he had a very shortlist of directors that he wanted to work with after the success of Titanic and Scorsese was on the top of the list. Plus I think he was shooting Gangs of New York when Spider-Man and Attack of the Clones was also being shot.
I dont like Leo and generally do not watch his movies, but I sure wish he had been Annakin Skywalker, Hayden was the worst ever.
I wish he didn’t pass up Anakin.
Yeah me too but then again I wish an awful lot of things regarding that lame ass trilogy. He would not have saved those movies but he sure would have made them a lot more tolerable to watch.
how are you li,whom do you love,from your computer.MANJULA MANI.
I’m not sure what he would have brought to the spiderman franchise had he taken the part when Cameron was in the talks of making the film? I think I would like to see perhaps DiCaprio play the role of villan in a film. What type of villan would he be? If he was in the Spiderman films I think I would have rather have him play Harry Osborn rather than the lead of Peter Parker. Don’t get me wrong James Franco did a good job as Harry, but I wonder how Leo would have done.
i wonder what my other favorite actor, matt damon, turned down?
“who is presumably sleeping on the street somewhere right now.”
Several have pointed out that O’Donnell is on a NCIS spinoff. He also previously had a recurring role on Grey’s Anatomy, and was in the TNT miniseries The Company. He’s also had film roles since Batman & Robin. The point to all of this is that while he’s never been “a big name” or up to DiCaprios stature, he is still a working actor.
But this is CIMENABLEND’S blunder, not just that ouch moment regarding O’Donnell, but this one:
“remember that Lucas has a talent for making great actors seem awful. Just look at what he did to Natalie Portman
I’m sorry. Wasn’t Sam Jackson’s Mace Windu a badass? Was Ewan that awful? Was the first Star Wars (A New Hope) really littered with good or great actors looking awful? Sir Alec? Peter Cushing? Didn’t Star Wars put Harrison Ford on the map?
And as for ‘dodging bullets’- the Spidey films were hits and MADE MONEY. Even the third one, which had mixed reaction. And, as someone pointed out, Leo was an early contender when James Cameron was attatched to direct.
But I’m glad this has been posted. It brings up my number one pet peeve when it comes to “dodging bullets”
Hindsight is 20/20. Nobody can say with 100% accuracy that any given film would have been better or worse with different actors in those projects at that time. Different actors have different ways of doing things.
You can argue to me that it has to do with the Grace of God or blind luck, however. Consider that if DiCaprio signed for Batman Forever (1995). That means he would not have been able to work on Quick And The Dead w/ Gene Hackman and another emerging actor, Russell Crowe- or perhaps he would have had to pass on The Basketball Diaries. But if he were under contract for B&R, would he have been in Titanic- which gave him more freedom to pick and choose projects?
Boggles the brain.
Would DiCaprio play a superhero or villain at some point? Maybe. There’s always the question of Aquaman; maybe he could work with Nolan on something in the near future (?)
best working actor in hollywood
Talk about dodging some career killing bullets. Leo is smart man, he knows when to take a part and when to say nah man. He’s been money since Gangs of New York (fn love that movie). Keep going man. Also he should be nightwing for Batman 3 (just sayin)
” Leo he met with Schumacher for Robin in Batman Forever. That role went to Chris O’Donnell who is presumably sleeping on the street somewhere right now” i thought chris was in NCIS LA
I think he was offered the Spider-man when James Cameron was still attached to it.. needless to say.. it was quite a while ago and he was a lot younger.
I think I remember that vaguely as well. I know that Wizard Magazine made a fanfictional poster for it when it was talks of Cameron taking on Web Head. I remember the poster, it was a painted with half of Leo’s face and the other the spiderman mask.
yeah I was gonna mention that.. cuz it was such a visually striking poster that still sits with me today..
I thought he would of done well as Captain America, as far as super heroes go.
“That role went to Chris O’Donnell who is presumably sleeping on the street somewhere right now” really? does this guy watch TV? Did he miss the fact that Chris O’Donnell is in one of the highest rated shows currently on tv?
I think that the point he is trying to get at is that after playing Robin in the Batman films Chris’s film career pretty well died. It wasn’t until he had a small role on Gray’s Anatomy in the second or third season that he even started to become a name in the film game again.
I understand what he was trying to say. I just think it was a bad example.
Especially because George Clooney is a superstar
I agree that Leo would not fit those roles very well. He is a great Thriller / Action actor but Superhero would not do him justice.
Depends on the hero!
Leo can play a solid Hawkeye or even Doc Strange. A character with a stoic and strong presence, he could do very well.
I also have a hard time picturing DiCaprio in a superhero outfit but I agree on Hawkeye or Green Arrow.
Hell, speaking of bow and arrows I think he’d do a great Robin Hood.
AND speaking of “hood” and “robin” I don’t know if I could see him as Robin but I’d definitly like to see him as Red Hood/Jason Todd. He’d bring a great deal of emotional complexity to the character
Being an avid Leo (movie) admirer, I believe that his character choices have been perfect. I think that the reason he is such a well respected actor is that he has played such diverse roles and has put himself into the shoes of so many different walks of life in his films. Whenever I hear that Leo will be playing in an upcoming film I know straight away that it will be HUGE – but that’s obvious – one, because he’s probably the greatest actor in the industry, and, two, his unbelievable track record!! (Some movies include Titanic, The Basketball Diaries, Romeo and Juliet, The Man in the Iron Mask, Gangs of New York, Blood Diamond, Shutter Island, and the most recent, Inception).
To this day, I am in awe and shock that he has not yet received an Oscar.