James Cameron says Leonardo DiCaprio thought his role in Titanic wasnt challenging enough

James Cameron says Leonardo DiCaprio thought his role in Titanic wasn’t challenging enough

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Filmfare

| February 7, 2023, 15:02 IST

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Leonardo DiCaprio had to be convinced to come on board for James Cameron’s Titanic. The film which also features Kate Winslet is one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. As the film completes 25 years of its release, Cameron talked about its casting process at a press conference.

In a chat with producer Jon Landau, James Cameron revealed that he was recently misquoted saying that Leonardo DiCaprio thought the movie was boring. In reality, the actor wasn’t convinced to join the cast because he felt it wasn’t “challenging enough”.

The director said, “He was looking for a challenge. He wanted, you know, he had played, you know, Gilbert Grape, who was obviously developmentally challenged in some way. And he played a drug addict in Basketball Diaries. And, you know, he wanted to have a problem. He wanted to have something to rage against.”

He further explained, “I had to convince him that playing that guy that doesn’t have an obvious problem coming in, who is in fact the one who’s the more emotionally mature and adult of the two people. So, that the transfer of energy and the love story is from Jack to Rose. And she grows as a result of it. I said that is gonna be a harder thing to do. And it’s only when I convinced him of the challenge of his character that he became interested.”

Titanic is set to re-release in theatres on February 10, 2023.