Leonardo DiCaprio: My Competitors Kill Themselves
After he made Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio had his first choice of roles, and he passed on a good many of them, including Spider-Man and Anakin Skywalker. But what was it like for DiCaprio before that breakthrough success? As he tells Rolling Stone, he had two main competitors for parts, but they're both dead now.
See if you can put together who he's referring to as he recounts his old partying days:
"I got to be wild and nuts, and I didn't suffer as much as people do now, where they have to play it so safe that they ruin their credibility. I didn't care what anyone thought... It was also about avoiding the tornado of chaos, of potential downfall. It was, 'Wow, how lucky are we to not have hung out with that crowd or done those things?' My two main competitors in the beginning, the blond-haired kids I went to audition with, one hung himself and the other died of a heroin overdose... I was never into drugs at all. There aren't stories of me in a pool of my own vomit in a hotel room on the Hollywood Strip."
So, Jonathan Brandis and River Phoenix? It's hard to imagine an alternate universe where the Seaquest DSV star might be the one starring in Inception, but it's an interesting dream nevertheless...or have I missed somebody?
Leonardo DiCaprio Faces His Demons: Inside the New Issue of Rolling Stone [Rolling Stone]
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Comments
Sunny Day is right. River was known, but was still playing teens ( mostly). For those of us old enough to pay attention in 1993, Phoenix, though thought to have tremendous promise and talent, he was not a major player. He was a teen star, not an adult star. Had he been willing to play the game, he might have parlayed the Oscar nom into super-stardom, but he remained largely off the radar, avoiding mainstream pictures, directors, actors. Interview with the Vampire was a huge departure for him. I think he would have been miserable with the attention it would have brought.
I've read a few comments that argue his Oscar nomination was some sort of gauge for how established he was. The reason why it did not catapult him to the next stage was because he wouldn't allow it to. Yes, he could have picked roles that were being thrown at him, but instead, he had no intention of moving up in the ranks, and continued to work with unknowns and experimental artists. Besides, an Oscar (nomination) doesn't mean instant stardom- there's a lot of forgotten nominees.
I don't think it was River Phoenix. He died 1993 when Leo was in "This Boy's life". I can't imagine they both applied for this role, imo River looked too old. Wasn't he like 4 years older? Brad Renfro was too young (8 years younger than Leo). And Christopher Pettiet seemed not to be "blond-haired " and there are several pics of him with Leo - some with Tobey Maguire -, so I assume they were friends. I don't know if he would entitle him as 'blonde-haired kid'. Who else is left?
It's Christopher Pettiet. Leo, Christopher and Tobey Maguire were all friends and constantly competed for the same roles. Leo and Christopher looked similar and had the same hair style and color. Look at pictures of Christopher around that time period and you will see his hair was dark blonde (like Leo's). He also died of a heroine overdose in 2000.
It was Chris Petit and Jonathan Brandis.
Correction - Chris Pettiet
It was Jonathan Brandis and Chris Pettiet, River was not at the same time, slightly before and died in 1993. Chris in 2000 and Jonathan in 2003, very sad!! Brandis was very talented and very similar in his acting ability to River, prefer both to Leo!
Yea, well, maybe these boys ended up this way bc they were abused in Hollywood as child actors. Get off your high horse, Dicaprio. If you had terrible demons to face who knows how you'd have turned out.
>>Yea, well, maybe these boys ended up this way bc they were abused in Hollywood as child actors.<<
Seriously, this I was thinking too! Who knows which other actors suffered from the abuse in Hollywood. In IMDB forum - which sadly doesn't exist anymore - was a discussion about that topic too.
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