Working alongside Leonardo DiCaprio can be both fascinating and challenging, as one has to up their level in order to not fall under the Oscar winner’s shadow in a movie. And considering that he was set o to star in 2013’s The Great Gatsby, which involved several other A-listers in the mix, Joel Edgerton was adamant about not falling under the shadow of DiCaprio in the movie.
Although Edgerton was an avid admirer of DiCaprio’s work and has always been vocal about his love for the Titanic star, he wasn’t ready to fall under the pressure of starring alongside DiCaprio. Following his dedication to the role in The Great Gatsby, The Gift actor felt unhealthy friction with his costar on the sets.
There was some tension between Leonardo DiCaprio and Joel Edgerton in The Great Gatsby
The live-action adaptation of the novel The Great Gatsby comprised Leonardo DiCaprio in the role of Jay Gatsby and Edgerton was assigned with the role of the mentally stern Tom Buchanan. But in order to nail the role and step up his level to match DiCaprio’s in the film, Edgerton would often immerse himself into the nature of the character during his time on the sets. However, this practice would lead to some uneasy situations between DiCaprio and him. Edgerton later explained the situation by stating,
“For me Tom is a beast that has to exist on set and it’s in me and it comes out of me and I enjoy it. There’s a kind of unhealthy friction that exists between Leo and I on set,”
However, this revelation did lead some to believe that there might be some ongoing feud between the two actors, but this rumor was quickly debunked by Edgerton.
Joel Edgerton and Leonardo DiCaprio had a great time offsets
Although the tension between the two actors may be high on sets, this wasn’t the case when they were offsets. While reflecting on the rumors regarding their speculated feud, Joel Edgerton brushed off these claims and the actor has nothing but nice to say for the Inception star. The actor explained that they had a great time during their time together off the sets and commended DiCaprio for being a standup guy. Edgerton said,
“I think that was taken a little bit out of context. We got along really well…the Plaze scene, we shot for a number of days and the tension was very high when we rolled but we had a good time off set,”
Despite the amazing performances from each of the actors in the film, the movie opened to divisive reviews, but it was able to garner $353 million at the box office from an approximate budget of $125 million.
The Great Gatsby is available to stream on Apple TV.
Source: Metro
