John C. Reilly has revealed that he once tried his best to get a young Leonardo DiCaprio off. titanic, and into a movie about an adult star instead.
The actor shared the story on Ted Danson’s Where everyone knows your name podcast that recalls how director Paul Thomas Anderson had desperately wanted DiCaprio to star in the Boogie nights before Mark Wahlberg was cast.
Reilly, who was close friends with Anderson at the time, volunteered to play the course in person.
“Give me the assignment, Paul. I’m going to get this guy to do your movie. I’ve known him since he was a kid,” he told the director after meeting DiCaprio for the first time on the set of What does Gilbert Grape eat in 1993, when Leo was only 17.
The problem was that DiCaprio had already been offered Titanic.
Reilly’s argument for turning it down was, in retrospect, some of the more spectacularly misjudged career advice in Hollywood history.
“Listen, Leo, let me tell you something. That movie Titanic is about a sinking boat,” he told him.
“Everybody knows the boat is sinking. Nobody’s going to care who’s on the boat.”
DiCaprio was torn. His agents assured him Titanic would be huge.
Reilly was equally insistent, urging him not to miss working with Anderson, who he believed would become one of the great directors of his generation.
“I tell you, man. I tell you, I wouldn’t give you a bum steer here,” he said. “It’s about a sinking boat.”
DiCaprio agreed Titanicwhich remains one of the highest-grossing films of all time and made him a global superstar at the age of 22.
Wahlberg took Boogie nights role to great acclaim.
It took another 25 years for DiCaprio and Anderson to finally work together One match after another.
“It was very satisfying for me,” Reilly joked. “It felt like, ‘Finally he took my advice. It took 25 years or something’.”
