Paul Rudd encouraged Leonardo DiCaprio to star in 'Titanic'.
Paul Rudd
The 50-year-old actor revealed that Leonardo, 44, told him about an offer to star in James Cameron's 1997 movie when they were filming the 1996 film 'Romeo + Juliet' and Paul urged him to accept the role.
In a clip from Friday's (18.10.19) 'The Graham Norton Show', Paul explained: "It was my last day of filming on 'Romeo + Juliet' and we all went out to a bar afterward.
"We were in different cars and I was riding to the place with Leo and he said, 'I just got offered this movie and it's a big movie'.
"He said, 'It's a studio movie. It's 'Titanic'. And I said, 'That's incredible!' and I knew a lot about Titanic since my dad just talks about Titanic all the time."
Paul explained that his father was an expert on the doomed ship and used to give talks about the tragedy.
He said: "My father was a Titanic expert and he used to take people all over the world talking about Titanic. He would go to universities."
Paul revealed that Leonardo still hadn't made up his mind about the movie when they left the car but he is taking some of the credit for Leonardo's decision to take on the role of Jack Dawson, opposite Kate Winslet.
He said: "Leo said, 'Well, I don't know what I'll do,' and I said 'Well you should do it.'
"I don't think I had any say but it is kind of interesting to think back on that. Because he did it, he did the movie."
'Titanic' went on to win 11 awards at the 1998 Oscars and launched Leonardo to superstardom in Hollywood.
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