Leonardo DiCaprio Almost Passed On ‘Titanic’ Until This Actress Convinced Him Not To

Leonardo DiCaprio owes a lot to the character Jack Dawson for his worldwide fame. But, he also owes a lot to his Titanic co-star for convincing him to take the role.

In a new interview with Deadline, Leonardo opened up about how his co-star, Kate Winslet, talked him into taking on the massive role in Titanic.

“Titanic was very much an experiment for Kate Winslet and I. We’d done all of these independent movies. I loved her as an actress and she said, ‘Let’s do this together, we can do this.'”

DiCaprio also reflected on just how much of an impact the role of Jack Dawson had on Kate and himself.

“My whole life became about things that weren’t about acting,” Leonardo reminisced. “We never predicted that it would be what it was, and I said, ‘Okay, slow down.’ Let all this pass a little bit, and let’s get back to…find something that…I knew it was going to be an adjustment. I knew there was an expectation of me to do a certain thing at that point, and I knew I had to get back to what my intentions were from the onset.

Leonardo did talk briefly about a role he did pass on, a certain “friendly neighborhood Spider-Man” he was rumored to be in talks to play with Titanic director James Cameron. The part eventually went to Tobey McGuire.

“I think there’s a yearning for adult movies out there that have some spectacle and some balls to them, and I’m a fan of those movies. I want to see these films being made.”

That kind of attitude lead him to his Academy Award-nominated role in The Revenant, for which DiCaprio is favored to take home the Oscar gold. Unfortunately, his nomination has been embroiled in the #OscarsSoWhite controversy that has swept across Hollywood.

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith and director Spike Lee are boycotting the Oscars this year, protesting against a second straight year without a single person of color nominated in any of the major acting categories.

“40 white actors in 2 years and no flava at all. We can’t act?! WTF!” Lee posted to his Instagram account as reported by Raw. “[H]ow is it possible for the 2nd consecutive year all 20 contenders under the actor category are white? And let’s not even get into the other branches.”

His stance has found great support among the entire industry, and even generated some immediate change within the Academy. An official statement released via the Oscars web site announced drastic changes to the framework surrounding lifetime voting rights, restructured committees, and a goal to “double the number of diverse members by 2020.”

“The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up,” Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said. “These new measures regarding governance and voting will have an immediate impact and begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition.”

That being said, the 2016 Oscars will see the topic of diversity take center stage when the winners are announced on February 28. Comedian Chris Rock even plans on changing his entire monologue to address the controversy head on when he hosts this year’s Oscars telecast, as reported by The Guardian.

One academy member who refuses to boycott the event, however, is Leonardo’s former co-star Kate Winslet. As reported by Vanity Fair, Winslet is attending not out of any political agenda or statement, but merely to support her friend.

“I feel very strongly that it may possibly be Leo’s year,” Winslet said, referring to her beloved former co-star and friend, who is favored to finally win Hollywood’s big prize for his role in The Revenant. “[He] is my closest friend in the world and I just couldn’t imagine not being there to support him.”

It seems the former Titanic stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet have forged a bond that no iceberg could ever sink.

[Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images]