Leonardo DiCaprio "screamed" at Robert De Niro to win a part in ‘This Boy’s Life’.
The 41-year-old actor had never met the Hollywood star when he was just a teenager auditioning to play his stepson in the 1993 movie, and revealed how in order to leave a lasting impression he yelled in De Niro’s face at the top of his lungs.
DiCaprio told Deadline: "I remember there was this mustard jar sequence, and just thinking to myself, ‘S**t, I’ve got to do something … memorable. I’ve got to do something to just rattle these people’s cages.’ I went in and they were doing the mustard jar sequence, and (De Niro)’s like, ‘Is it empty, is it empty?’ And I just stood up and threw my chair down, or something, and screamed at him, ‘No, it’s not empty.’ And then Bob had this smirk on his face, and just started slowly busting up, laughing in my face. And then he looked at everybody else, and the whole room starting laughing.
"I was like, ‘Holy s**t, I blew it. I blew this. I blew this whole opportunity.’ "
But the young DiCaprio did win the part of Toby Wolff opposite DeNiro’s abusive stepfather character Dwight Hansen, and the film helped launch his movie career.
The Hollywood star – who won the Leading Actor prize at the BAFTAs last weekend and is tipped to win the Best Actor statuette at the Oscars on February 28 for his depiction of frontiersman Hugh Glass in ‘The Revenant’ – said: "I guess at 15 you misunderstand. I guess they kind of liked it, because Bob was like, ‘That kid was … there’s something interesting there.’ And they brought me back."
Leonardo DiCaprio ‘screamed’ at Robert De Niro in audition
