Actors’ careers can change on a dime depending on which roles they take or turn down.
And Leonardo DiCaprio just revealed that he was forced to make some hard choices early on in his career.
The 39-year-old leading man — then 18 — turned down ‘more money than I ever dreamed of’ for Disney’s Hocus Pocus in order to star in the 1993 indie flick What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
‘I don’t know where the hell I got the nerve,’ the Wolf of Wall Street star admitted to Variety.
‘You live in an environment where you’re influenced by people telling you to make a lot of money and strike while the iron’s hot. But if there’s one thing I’m very proud of, it’s being a young man who was sticking to my guns.’
The kid’s cult classic — starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as witches — only made $39 million at the box office.
Instead, the role of angsty teen Max Dennison went to Dallas star Omri Katz, who was initially rejected after his audition.
