Who isn’t a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio? It turns out Christian Bale is also among the long list of people in awe of the Hollywood superstar. Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio, who were often perceived as rivals for the longest time in the industry, are actually huge fans of each other’s work.
Although they were frequently pitted against one another in the race for roles in demand, both are phenomenal in their own rights. Thus, the Batman actor sang nothing but praises for his supposed rival, describing how big of a fan he is.
Christian Bale Is a Huge Leonardo Dicaprio Fan!
In an interview with GQ, Christian Bale, himself a phenomenal actor and a legend in the craft, shared his experience of ‘competing’ against Leonardo DiCaprio for roles in high-demand movies. There have been times when Bale lost a few major roles to DiCaprio by a very narrow margin. Speaking on the situation, he revealed,
“Oh, dude. It’s not just me. Look, to this day, any role that anybody gets, it’s only because he’s passed on it beforehand. It doesn’t matter what anyone tells you. It doesn’t matter how friendly you are with the directors. All those people that I’ve worked with multiple times, they all offered every one of those roles to him first. Right? I had one of those people actually tell me that. So, thank you, Leo, because literally, he gets to choose everything he does. And good for him, he’s phenomenal.”
He further showed his charisma by stating that the competition doesn’t affect him. The role goes to the actor who the film deems to be the best fit, and Bale will always respect that decision, no matter what. He said,
“Do you know how grateful I am to get any damn thing? I mean, I can’t do what he does–I wouldn’t want the exposure that he has either. And he does it magnificently. But I would suspect that almost everybody of similar age to him in Hollywood owes their careers to him passing on whatever project it is.”
The actor revealed he is extremely grateful for what he has and would not want his life to be any different than it is now.
The Movies Christian Bale Lost to Leonardo Dicaprio
A book written by Bale’s publicist Harrison Cheung, named Christian Bale – The Inside Story Of The Darkest Batman, detailed the supposed competition between the two as well as the movies Bale lost to the actor. It stated,
“DiCaprio. The name burned Christian like a branding iron–Over the years, Christian had lost This Boy’s Life and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape to DiCaprio. Christian had read for the part of Mercutio in Romeo + Juliet but was told that they had decided to cast an African-American in the part instead.”
The book further also revealed,
“Christian too had gone up for the part of Jack Dawson in Titanic but was told that James Cameron didn’t want two British lead actors playing the two leads who were both supposed to be American,”
It is now wild to think about the what-ifs it might have brought to the scenario if they hadn’t ended up getting the roles they eventually did. However, despite the competition, or some might say healthy competition, the two actors have blossomed in their own way in the industry, showcasing remarkable talent and versatility.
