It is not new for Hollywood stars to make certain bad decisions that can put their careers in jeopardy. In many instances, we have seen how some actors starred in some of the worst movies of all time even after having a celebrated career. Leonardo DiCaprio also did something when he did a project for the sake of friendship but had to fight hard later to not release it in any way.
Don’s Plum is a movie that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire along with a bunch of other actors. But the project could never see the light of dawn as the lead actors were strongly against its release and even dragged it into a legal battle until the movie was announced to be never seen in the USA and Canada.
What led Leonardo DiCaprio to stop Don’s Plum from coming to the public eye?
What started as a project among close friends turned out to be a nasty legal drama at last after the makers suddenly decided to change their short film into a feature. The whole thing originated when young director Dale Wheatley decided to do a project with his circle of young actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Kevin Connolly, and others.
The black-and-white film centered around a group of young men speaking about their lives in a restaurant. One of the key decisions made for the plan was the maximum usage of improvised lines instead of a long screenplay. The character played by the Titanic lead in Don’s Plum was completely opposite from any project he had done and featured some controversial lines like:
“Stop looking at me like that—I’ll f**king throw a bottle at your face, you goddamn wh*re.”
Trouble ensured when it was announced that the makers had enough material and wanted to turn the short into a full-length feature. Leonardo DiCaprio who was enjoying his newfound success didn’t wish the questionable content in the movie to reach a wider audience:
“I never had any intention of doing a feature film. The agreement had always been that this was a short film. I would never go in for one night and improvise with my friends and make a feature film. There’s no way I would ever do that.”
It was corroborated by Dale Wheatley who confirmed that the Romeo + Juliet actor felt the feature could affect his name. As if Leonardo DiCaprio’s involvement in this drama wasn’t enough, even Tobey Maguire entered the scene as well. The Spider-Man name also refrained from the feature from being released and supported DiCaprio.
How did Tobey Maguire enter the scene?
According to reports from one of the collaborators Jerry Meadors, Leonardo DiCaprio’s mind changed when he attended a screening of the movie at LA’s MGM Plaza. He was reportedly very happy after watching Don’s Plum and left the theater with praise.
“He turned and spins in the air. And on the way out, he congratulated R.D. and he said, ‘Well, you said you were going to make a feature. I never believed you could, but you did it, and it’s pretty good.’ It was that simple.”
But things changed when DiCaprio’s The Great Gatsby co-star entered the scene. Similar to the initial version of the Catch Me If You Can star, he was also against its release. This led the co-stars to have meetings with the makers. According to Dale Wheatley, Tobey Maguire was enraged by the movie and didn’t want it to be released in any way.
“Tobey loses it and comes completely undone. And he starts screaming, ‘I want Don’s Plum to burn!’ And it was just rage, pure unadulterated rage.”
The situation worsened as Maguire accused Wheatley and the company of exploiting DiCaprio’s stardom- “You’re gonna pit the press against f**king Leo? You would do that to your own friend?”. This affected the conversation badly as the 48-year-old actor also claimed that he had contacts and would not let the movie be released anywhere.
Dale Wheatley and the others filed a lawsuit of $10 Million against Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. But the two leading stars also hit back with a countersuit stating that they never signed for a feature. Eventually, the battle ended with the lawsuit being settled and the movie ordered to be not released in the USA and Canada and certain scenes to be chopped off.
Source: New York Post
