While she had already given the reply to Leonardo DiCaprio in “Romeo + Juliet”, the actress Claire Danes could again have shared the poster with him in the memorable “Titanic” by James Cameron.
Today, we know her mainly thanks to her role as Carrie Mathison, a CIA agent suffering from bipolar disorder and never backing down from anything, in the 8 seasons of the series Homeland. But at the beginning of her career, when she was not even in her twenties, Claire Danes had given the reply to a certain Leonardo DiCaprio in the revisited adaptation of the famous play by William Shakespeare, Romeo + Juliet.
Baz Luhrmann’s film had immediately propelled the young actress to the forefront, and this Hollywood rise could have taken on a whole new dimension, since according to what she had confided several years later, Claire Danes had been seriously considered for the role of Rose in James Cameron’s Titanic.
Just after Romeo + Juliette, she could therefore have found DiCaprio in a project that would undoubtedly have radically changed her career. The actress however chose not to board the liner, knowing full well that this film would upset everything for her:
“I remember when Leo decided to take on this movie. He really struggled. It was a deep choice, and the question was, ‘Do I want to fly to the stratosphere now?’ I think he decided yes, and I decided no”she said at the microphone of the Howard Stern Showin 2015.
Twentieth Century Fox
“I think I just wasn’t ready, I still had a lot to develop as a person, I wanted to go to university… (…) If you are not deeply aligned with such a decision, it is not going to serve you or benefit you.”
What would Claire Danes’ career have looked like if she had played Rose instead of Kate Winslet in Titanic? Impossible to know. Anyway, his choice allowed him to participate in the excellent Homeland series, available on Disney + if you want to catch up.
(Re)discover the trailer for “Homeland”…