Leonardo DiCaprio once tried to block Don’s Plum’s release ( Photo Credit – Facebook )
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Leonardo DiCaprio’s heightened success results from his exceptional talent, hard work, strategic role choices, and collaborations with top directors like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese.
Over the years, the Titanic actor has consistently delivered powerful performances in films like Inception, The Wolf of the Wall Street, and The Revenant, earning him critical acclaim and numerous awards.
However, like any actor, some decisions may not always resonate strongly with audiences or critics, and similar happened with DiCaprio. There was a time when the actor starred in one of the worst movies for which he starred for the sake of a friendship but later fought hard not to release it.
Don’s Plum starred DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and other actors. However, the project was never released as the lead actors were strongly against its release and legally battled until the movie was announced to be never seen in the USA and Canada. The movie featured a group of young men discussing their lives in a restaurant. A key decision for the film was to rely heavily on improvised dialogue rather than sticking to a detailed screenplay, giving it a raw and spontaneous feel. While DiCaprio’s character in the film vastly differed from his previous roles, his performance included some provocative lines that stirred conversations, starkly contrasting his mainstream projects like Titanic.
Following the trouble, the filmmakers of Don’s Plum announced plans to expand the short film into a full-length feature. However, DiCaprio, who was basking in his newfound success after Titanic, became concerned about the film’s controversial content reaching a broader audience.
The provocative dialogue and the raw nature of his character didn’t align with the image he wanted to project. DiCaprio admitted in a throwback interview with The New York Post, “I never had any intention of doing a feature film. The agreement had always been that this was a short film. I would never go in for one night and improvise with my friends and make a feature film. There’s no way I would ever do that.”
Not only DiCaprio but Maguire also refrained from the feature and supported the actor. According to Dale Wheatley, Maguire didn’t want it to be released, adding, “Tobey loses it and comes completely undone. And he starts screaming, ‘I want Don’s Plum to burn!’ And it was just rage, pure unadulterated rage.”
The situation escalated when Maguire accused director R.D. Robb and the production team are exploiting DiCaprio’s rising stardom. The Spider-Man star confronted them saying, “You’re gonna put the press against f**king Leo? You would do that to your own friend?” This further strained the negotiations as DiCaprio vowed to use his influence to block the film’s release. He even claimed to have contacts that would ensure that Don’s Plum would not see the light of the day.
Following this, Wheatley and the filmmakers filed a $10 million lawsuit against DiCaprio and Maguire, accusing them of blocking the release of Don’s Plum. DiCaprio and Maguire countersued in response, claiming they never agreed to star in a full-length feature. The legal battle eventually ended with a settlement, resulting in the movie being banned from release in the USA and Canada.
