"You should do it," is what the 50-year-old actor Paul Rudd told the Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio after he mentioned that he was offered to play "Jack" in the 1997 film Titanic. During an interview on The Graham Norton Show, "Ant-Man" revealed he was actually the one who convinced Leo to take the main role in James Cameron's big hit.
According to Rudd, he and DiCaprio were working together on Romeo + Juliet when Leo got the offer. One day while they were on their way to a bar, Leonardo said: "I just got offered this movie and it’s a big movie. I don’t know what I’ll do." Leo was nervous about taking on a massive studio project but Paul encouraged him to do so!
Paul Rudd had a special reason to convince Leonardo to take the role of "Jack"
Paul Rudd did not only think Leonardo DiCaprio was talented enough to take the role - he also had a special connection to Titanic: His father was a Titanic expert who always enjoyed to talk about the doomed ocean liner with people all over the world! Rudd was quite familiar with Titanic and even very interested in taking the role of "Jack." After learning that James Cameron had different plans regarding the cast he joked: "I think the guy that got it was pretty good," referring to Leo.
It seems we all have to give the Clueless star some credit! Encouraging DiCaprio to play "Jack" resulted in a big success: Titanic went on to win 11 Academy Awards!
Turns out that these movies had an alternative ending...
