James Cameron Says Leonardo DiCaprio Thought That the TITANIC Screenplay Was Boring

Director James Cameron has been talking a lot lately about his epic award-winning film Titanic, in light of the movie’s 25th anniversary return to theaters next month. We recently reported that the film’s star, Academy Award-winner Leonardo DiCaprio, wasn’t willing to read for the role of Jack at first, but the director told him he had to read or he wasn’t going to get the part. Cameron explained that the film was going to cost more than any other movie made to date, and would take two years of his life, so he had to be sure that DiCaprio and the already cast female lead, Academy Award-winner Kate Winslet, were a perfect onscreen match.

As it turns out, Cameron had a lot to lose by playing hardball with DiCaprio. In a recent interview with People magazine, James Cameron revealed that DiCaprio thought the Titanic screenplay was “boring,” and he didn’t want to star in the epic disaster romance film. Cameron had to “twist” DiCaprio’s arm.

Cameron explained:

“He didn’t want to do a leading man. I had to really twist his arm to be in the movie. He didn’t want to do it. He thought it was boring. [He] accepted the part only when I convinced him that it was actually a difficult challenge.”

So he didn’t want to be in the movie, but Cameron convinced him. Then he didn’t want to read for the role, so Cameron told him he would read, or not get the role? Either DiCaprio really wanted the part, but he had a great poker face, or James Cameron is a master at convincing people to do what he thinks they should! Either way, it all worked out to make the beautiful movie we all know today.

Titanic is celebrating its 25th anniversary by returning to theaters on February 10th with a brand new 4K restoration. Will you be checking it out?