Leonardo DiCaprio is renowned for his consistent refusal to participate in superhero film projects. The actor has even repeatedly advised younger talents, such as Timothée Chalamet, against joining this genre and has discouraged accepting roles derived from comic book adaptations.
However, few are aware that DiCaprio has turned down several opportunities in superhero films for various reasons. In a recent interview, director Zack Snyder, who helmed three films in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) — Superman, Batman v Superman, and Justice League — revealed that DiCaprio is a name that has always been considered during the casting process. However, his stance on participating in superhero films has never wavered.
On the Marvel side, one of the most notable projects was the Spider-Man film developed by James Cameron in the late 1990s. At that time, DiCaprio was viewed as the frontrunner for the lead role of Peter Parker. Sharing with Empire Magazine, the star of Killer of the Flower Moon mentioned that he almost landed the superhero role himself before the project fell into development hell and was never officially released.
“The production process hadn’t even started, but they had finished a script already,” DiCaprio stated. “I know there were times when the director, James Cameron, was quite serious about this project, but there were also some disputes and discussions. We did talk about it a few times. I think I had read the script already, but it wasn’t clear. That was about 20 years ago.”
For DC, DiCaprio was also once considered for significant roles in all three Batman film iterations from the 2000s to the present day. Snyder elaborated that due to DiCaprio’s talent and charisma, Warner Bros. had pitched the idea of bringing the actor into the superhero film franchise, but it never materialized successfully.
Initially, Snyder and DiCaprio met and discussed the role of Lex Luthor within the DCEU, a significant antagonist for Superman. Snyder remarked, “Leonardo DiCaprio… I think DiCaprio has a lot of wonderful ideas, even though we only met very briefly. But in the end, the idea wasn’t quite right, like ‘I don’t know anymore…’. However, that idea had some very clever thoughts about the character.”
Prior to that, DiCaprio also turned down an opportunity with The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in director Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Following the critical success of The Dark Knight, which garnered significant acclaim for Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker, Warner Bros. wanted the next film to center around the Riddler, and DiCaprio was considered for that role.
However, Christopher Nolan had his own vision. Although the Riddler was on his mind, he ultimately decided against pursuing this villain. Jonathan Nolan, who was involved in all three projects of The Dark Knight, noted, “I started to consider ideas about the Riddler and what we could do with that character. However, I think we had already created something great with Heath Ledger, so we needed to do something different.”
Reflecting on his early years in the 1990s before rising to fame with Titanic, DiCaprio was primarily known as a promising young talent in Hollywood. He quickly caught the eye of director Joel Schumacher, who wanted DiCaprio to play Robin in Batman Forever.
Sharing with Shortlist, DiCaprio revealed, “I never participated in the audition for that. I just met Joel Schumacher, and that was it. That was the only time, and no, I didn’t take the role. I think I didn’t want to take that role. Joel is a fantastic director, but I personally wasn’t ready for roles like that at the time.”
Source: ScreenRant
