Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the finest actors of present day. He has bagged Oscar nomination FIVE TIMES! But unfortunately, he hasn't won it once. Well, a superhero role or a Star Wars role would have hardly earned him an Oscar. But we would like to know why he rejected so many of those roles!
Yes, Leonardo DiCaprio passed on roles of Robin, Spider-Man and Anakin Skywalker in the past! What made him turn down those roles? The actor has finally answered the questions. The Revenant star sat down with ShortList recently. They asked him the questions and he didn't shy away from answering. Let's check out his answers on the following segments.
Leonardo DiCaprio on Refusing to Play Robin
For his 1995 flick Batman Forever, Joel Schumacher approached Leonardo DiCaprio. The director wanted to cast him as Robin. Here's what the actor said:
"I never screen-tested. I had a meeting with Joel Schumacher. It was just one meeting and, no, I didn't end up doing it."
Of course, Leonardo DiCaprio didn't end up playing the Batman-sidekick – it was Chris O'Donnell who eventually did. But what happened? He explained:
"As I recall I took the meeting, but didn't want to play the role. Joel Schumacher is a very talented director but I don't think I was ready for anything like that."
DiCaprio on Rejecting Anakin Skywalker Role
The actor revealed that George Lucas approached him for the role of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels. They had a meeting on that. But again, he rejected! Why? Leonardo DiCaprio uttered "˜same scenario' as for the Robin role with a laugh! He added:
"Again, just didn't feel ready to take that dive. At that point."
DiCaprio on Turning Down Spider-Man Role
Even before Sam Raimi made the first set of Spider-Man movies with Tobey Maguire as the lead cast, James Cameron had a vision of making a movie on the web-slinger. That didn't happen eventually. But Leonardo DiCaprio was the director's choice for the lead role.
But even if that movie was made, we won't have seen DiCaprio playing Peter Parker. Because he turned down that one as well! He stated:
"Er, that was another one of those situations, similar to Robin, where I didn't feel ready to put on that suit yet."
The actor talked about passing on James Cameron's Spider-Man in another recent interview. This one features in the latest issue of Empire Magazine. He explained (via ComicBookMovie):
"I know he was semi-serious about doing it at some point, but I don’t remember any further talks about it. We had a couple of chats. I think there was a screenplay that I read, but I don’t remember. This was 20 years ago!"
Will He Never Play A Superhero Role?
Well, Leonardo DiCaprio did let go the roles of Robin, Anakin Skywalker and Spider-Man but that necessarily doesn't mean he would pass on any superhero role that comes on his way in future. Does it? Don't know? Then, know it from what he said in the first interview:
"You never know. You never know. They're getting better and better as far as complex characters in these movies. I haven't yet. But no, I don't rule out anything."
Do you think Leonardo DiCaprio made right decisions by not playing Robin, Spider-Man and Anakin Skywalker? Would you want to see him play a superhero in future? If yes, which one? Share via comments!
