Titanic director James Cameron said Leonardo DiCaprio’s career-cementing lead role almost didn’t happen because he refused to audition.

World-renowned filmmaker James Cameron has revealed that Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio almost didn’t get his career-defining Titanic role. Cameron revealed this and more in the interview granted in the leadup to his next blockbuster release, Avatar: The Way of Water.

Loosely based on the tragic sinking of the passenger liner of the same name, Cameron’s Titanic tells the dramatized story of the passengers aboard the HMS Titanic, a supposedly unsinkable cruise ship that ironically meets its end on the very first voyage when it runs into an iceberg. DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as doomed lovers Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, but the iconic duo would have looked different had DiCaprio not acquiesced to Cameron’s requirements.

In a recent interview with GQ, Cameron revealed that Titanic‘s leading man DiCaprio almost missed out on what is now well-known as the role of a lifetime because the actor didn’t want to read for the part, despite being interested and present. According to Cameron, he shook the star’s hand and thanked him for coming, forcing the young DiCaprio, who had already done some of his best early work at the time, to ask for clarification. Cameron then reportedly told him that the project was “like a giant movie that is going to take two years of my life and you’ll be gone doing five other things, while I’m doing post-production and all the model work and everything. So I’m not gonna f*** it up. I’m making the wrong decision in casting, so you’re gonna read or you’re not gonna get the part.”

This talking to was enough to make DiCaprio read for the part. While Cameron noted that he displayed a bad attitude leading up to the reading, he also noted there was a transformation as soon as the actual audition started, admitting that Leo “turned into Jack and Kate just lit up and they went into this whole thing and he played the scene. Dark clouds had opened up, a ray of sun came down and lit up Jack. I’m like, ‘All right, he’s the guy.’” The comments track, as DiCaprio’s acting ability has gotten him several high-profile roles, most recently in an upcoming Martin Scorcese project for Apple TV Plus.

The interview also touched on Cameron’s Avatar film series, including Avatar: Way of Water, the long-awaited sequel to his magnum opus, 2009’s Avatar. The film has been heavily promoted, including a theatrical re-introduction of the original movie. Cameron has also warned fans that he doesn’t want to hear any whining about Avatar: The Way of Water‘s runtime. Whether or not the sequel will live up to the original or meet the lofty revenue targets that Cameron has revealed are required for it to break even remains to be seen.

Titanic is now available on Paramount Plus.

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