When James Cameron Denied Casting Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet In Titanic & Instead Wanted Gwyneth Paltrow, Matthew McConaughey To Avoid Making It Look “Laziest Casting In The World”
James Cameron once wanted Gwyneth Paltrow & Matthew McConaughy for Titanic instead of Leonardo DiCaprio & Kate Winslet. Read on
When James Cameron Initially Felt Roping In Kate Winslet In Titanic Was Laziest Casting & Wanted Gwyneth Paltrow As Rose(Photo Credit –Instagram/Imdb)
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James Cameron’s film Titanic, released in 1997, is considered a cult classic. The Oscar-winning film starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in the memorable roles of Jack and Rose, respectively. But did you know that the film could’ve had Gwyneth Paltrow & Matthew McConaughy instead?
The acclaimed director considered more than just Kate when deciding on Rose’s role for Titanic. Another actress for the role was the Academy Award-winning actor Gwyneth Paltrow. Scroll down to know more.
In an interview with GQ, James Cameron admitted that he initially believed that appointing Kate Winslet as Rose would be a ‘lazy’ decision. Kate was already well-known in the historical drama subgenre. She had previously starred in Sense and Sensibility (1995), an adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel, Ang Lee’s A Kid in King Arthur’s Court (1995), Michael Winterbottom’s Jude (1996), in which she played a 19th-century British woman, and Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet (1996), in which she played Ophelia.
James Cameron said, “So I thought ‘Oh, man, this is going to look like the laziest casting in the world.” But the director did end up meeting Kate and offering her the part of Rose. In an interview with US Weekly, Gwyneth also admitted that she had almost closed in on the role of Rose. “I think I was really in contention for it — I was one of the last two,” she said.
Even though Leonardo had the edge in the race for the part of Jack, there was still a remote chance that another A-list celebrity would take Leonardo‘s place. Actor Matthew McConaughey confessed in the podcast Literally! with Rob Lowe that he had tried out for the role.
“It was one of those ones where they, like, followed me, and when we got outside, they were like, ‘That went great.’ I mean, kind of, like, hugs. I really thought it was going to happen,” Matthew said in the podcast.
