While he's still chasing after that elusive Oscar, much-loved actor Leonardo DiCaprio has displayed some canny foresight when it came to some of the projects he passed up.
In a long interview with The Shortlist, he revealed that one of the major roles he turned down was as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones.
"I did have a meeting with George Lucas about that. Just didn't feel ready to take that dive. At that point."
That role eventually went to Hayden Christenen, who was summarily panned for his performance in the film. Christensen recently spoke to the Los Angeles Times about it:
“I guess I felt like I had this great thing in Star Wars that provided all these opportunities and gave me a career, but it all kind of felt a little too handed to me. [...] I didn’t want to go through life feeling like I was just riding a wave.”
DiCaprio also revealed that he was approached to play Peter Parker in the Spider-Man movies (which ultimately went to Tobey Maguire), as well as Robin in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin (eventually Chris O'Donnell filled the rubber suits in those movies).
Not that he's completely ruled out acting in a superhero movie, as he told The Shortlist:
"You never know. You never know. They're getting better and better as far as complex characters in these movies. I haven't yet. But no, I don't rule out anything."
Now that Star Wars is good again, and Marvel continue to be on the rise, don't be surprised to see Leo in some of the biggest blockbusters in the net few years.
