Movie history is filled with sliding-door casting choices, but few are as funny in hindsight as John C. Reilly trying to convince Leonardo DiCaprio that “Titanic” was the wrong bet.
Appearing on Ted Danson’s podcast “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” Reilly recalled the early effort to get Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” off the ground, when the film’s subject matter made it a much harder sell than it may seem now. The 1997 drama, set in the adult-film industry and eventually starring Mark Wahlberg as Dirk Diggler, was not exactly the safest career move for young actors and their representatives.
READ MORE: The Essentials: The Films Of Paul Thomas Anderson
“At the time we were trying to get ‘Boogie Nights’ put together, being in porn was thought of as taboo,” Reilly said, noting that actors, managers, and agents were wary of the material. According to Reilly, Anderson initially wanted DiCaprio for the lead before Wahlberg came aboard, and Reilly felt he had an in: he had already worked with DiCaprio on “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and had known him since the actor was a teenager.
Reilly said he volunteered to help Anderson land DiCaprio, only to discover that the actor had also been offered James Cameron’s “Titanic.” His pitch, in retrospect, was not exactly one for the prediction markets.
“I sat down with him on Hillhurst there in Silver Lake,” Reilly remembered, telling DiCaprio, “‘That movie, ‘Titanic,’ is about a boat that sinks. Everyone knows the boat sinks!’” Reilly said he argued that Anderson would become one of the major filmmakers of his generation and that DiCaprio should not miss the chance to work with him.
DiCaprio, of course, stayed aboard “Titanic,” which became one of the biggest films of all time and helped turn him into a global movie star. “Boogie Nights” became its own landmark: a breakthrough for Anderson, a career-shifting showcase for Wahlberg, and one of the defining American films of the 1990s.
The choice has followed DiCaprio differently. As EW notes, he said in an Esquire interview last year that passing on “Boogie Nights” was his “biggest regret.” Reilly said he could not speak for DiCaprio, but suggested that the overwhelming success of “Titanic” was both “a blessing and a curse” for a young actor suddenly dealing with that level of fame.
There is, at least, a belated coda. DiCaprio eventually worked with Anderson on “One Battle After Another,” which Reilly said was “very satisfying” to see after all these years. Sometimes the boat sinks, and sometimes the alternate timeline takes a few decades to arrive.
