Leonardo DiCaprio, 51, stunned fans when he admitted on December 17 that he has never seen the 1997 blockbuster Titanic, the film that launched his career.
In a conversation with Jennifer Lawrence for CNN and Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, the actor said, “I haven’t seen it before,” adding, “I don’t really watch my films.”
Lawrence, 35, agreed that actors often overlook their own work but urged DiCaprio to give the epic a chance, saying, “I bet you could watch it now, it’s so good.”
Despite never sitting through the film’s three hours and 15 minutes, DiCaprio recalls watching it at age 22 when it first hit theaters, a moment he describes as pivotal.
He told Deadline in a 2016 interview that people questioned the film’s magnitude, to which he replied, “It became something that we could’ve never foreseen.” He later explained that Titanic’s success allowed him to pursue experimental roles, using his fame to finance R‑rated projects he had always wanted.
The actor also revealed a regret: having to pass on Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 directorial debut, Boogie Nights. In a 2023 interview with Deadline, he said, “The dilemma for me at that point, was, of course, I would’ve loved to have done both movies, but it just couldn’t happen at that moment.”
Now, nearly three decades later, DiCaprio finally stars in Anderson’s long‑awaited film, One Battle After Another, alongside Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti, marking the fulfillment of a dream he first imagined when Titanic premiered.
At the September premiere, DiCaprio described Anderson’s decade‑long tinkering: the film is an unpredictable odyssey with deceptive characters and an action‑comedy core, yet the heart of the story revolves around a father trying to reunite with his daughter.
Kate Winslet, who also rose to fame with Titanic, shares her own journey in a recent interview. She reflects on being thrust into the spotlight after her first Oscar nomination at 19 and recounts untold stories from filming Titanic, a set malfunction, her collaboration with Jack Black on The Holiday, and a motivating female figure in her newest film, Lee.
Together, the two stars highlight how a single film can shape a career, influence future choices, and eventually lead to a lifelong dream, proving that even the most iconic movies can leave unexpected gaps in their own creators’ memories.
