Leonardo DiCaprio‘s turn in James Cameron’s Titanic, which catapulted the then-22-year-old film star to bona fide heartthrob status as the sweeping romance drama broke box office records, almost didn’t happen — if John C. Reilly had it his way.
The Oscar-nominated character actor recently popped by Ted Danson’s Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast for a conversation, reminiscing about his time coming up in the industry alongside “best friend” Paul Thomas Anderson, with whom he had become “thick as thieves” after the Valley-hailing director invited him to a Sundance Institute workshop.
Before his feature debut with 1996’s Hard Eight, Anderson had made the mockumentary short film The Dirk Diggler Story, about a fictional male porn star, which he would later expand into 1997’s Boogie Nights starring Mark Wahlberg as a rising figure in the 1970s Golden Age of Porn.
The idea had been “percolating … for years and years,” Reilly said, and, as his “ride or die” and “right-hand man,” he wanted to help the three-time Oscar-winning filmmaker during the casting process. However, as “being in porn was thought of as taboo” at the time, Reilly remembered actors, managers and agents steering clear, with even Wahlberg’s manager advising him: “Don’t do it.”
“Before Mark was asked to do the movie, Paul really wanted Leo DiCaprio to do it,” the Chicago actor recalled. “I knew Leo. I met him when he was 17 [on the set of 1993’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape]. And I was like, ‘Give me the assignment, Paul. I’ll get this guy to do your movie. I’ve known him since he’s a kid.’”
However, DiCaprio had already been offered Titanic. “And I was like, ‘Listen, Leo, let me tell you something. That movie Titanic is about a boat that sinks,” Reilly remembered saying, as Danson laughed. “Everyone knows the boat sinks. No one’s going to give a shit about who’s on the boat.’”
Danson commented, joking: “This is about a penis that goes up!”
“And I was like, ‘This guy, this director, is going to be one of the most talented film directors going forward, and you should not miss this opportunity,’” Reilly added.
DiCaprio was conflicted, as his agents were promising that Titanic was going to be “a really big movie.”
“And I was like, ‘I’m telling you, man. I’m telling you, I wouldn’t give you a bum steer here. It’s about a boat that sinks,’” Reilly concluded.
Though the rest is history — Titanic still ranks among top 5 highest grossing movies of all time — “finally it happened” with One Battle After Another. “That was very satisfying for me … It felt like, ‘Finally, he took my advice. It took 25 years or something,’” Reilly joked.
Watch the interview below:
