I turned down playing Rose in Titanic and lost out on $2million and I don’t regret it
CLAIRE Danes has opened up about passing up on the role of a lifetime when she turned down the chance to play Rose in Titanic.
The Homeland actress revealed why she doesn’t regret her decision while guesting on the popular celebrity podcast, Armchair Expert.
Claire, 44, revealed that there was “strong interest” in playing the part of Rose DeWitt Bukater when questioned by podcast host, Dax Shepard, 48, if she’d ever been offered the role.
The actress starred in the teen drama series My So-Called Life for its one-season run, winning a Golden Globe for her portrayal of the main character Angela Chase, and was at the right age and popularity to take on the role of Rose when Titanic casting began.
The Hours actor confessed: “I’d just made this romantic epic with Leo in Mexico City, which is where they were going to shoot Titanic, and I just didn’t have it in me.”
The Mexico City-located epic the actress is referring to is Romeo + Juliet, the Baz Luhrmann-directed retelling of the Shakespearean romance that starred Claire and eventual Titanic star, Leonardo DiCaprio, 48.
Claire revealed that she and Leo shared a manager at the time and that they were both hesitant to take on what could likely be career-defining roles.
Referencing the Departed actor, the 44-year-old recalled: “I could see he wasn’t sure, but he was like, ‘F**k it, I gotta do this thing.'”
“And I looked down on him, going, I totally understand why you are doing it. And I’m not ready for that. And I think I really wasn’t ready for it.”
Claire admitted: “I remember after that movie came out and he just went into another stratosphere.”
“I went to the premiere of The Man in the Iron Mask and when he walked into the room the floor fell in his direction.”
The Man in the Iron Mask was Leo’s immediate follow-up to the phenomenon that was Titanic.
Claire continued: “Everybody in the room went toward him. It was a little scary. I think I may have sensed I was courting that. And I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want it.”
When asked if she has any regrets about her decision not to pursue the role, the Rainmaker actor stated: “Zero regret.”
She explained to Dax: “I was just really clear about it. I wasn’t conflicted. I wasn’t.”
The role of Rose eventually went to Kate Winslett who heavily campaigned for the part after better-known actors at the time—Gwyneth Paltrow, Winona Ryder, Reese Witherspoon, and of course Claire Danes—had turned down the role.
ON-SCREEN SMOOCH
During the same interview, Claire revealed it was “embarrassing” to lock lips with her MUCH older co-star Jared Leto on the set of My So-Called Life.
The Full Circle star revealed she was “terrified” about the kiss- which happened when she was merely 14 and he was 21.
The Golden Globe winner admitted to Dax that she was “clueless” going into the show at such a young age for her role as Angela Chase.
“Is it true that you had your first real-life kiss on that show?” the comedic podcast host asked his guest.
“That’s not true. But it was true that it was more of an involved kiss than I had ever had,” the now mom of one said.
“And there were stage directions that said I was supposed to kiss Jordan Catalano’s face, like not his lips, and I didn’t understand that at all.
She remembered naively asking her co-star as she laughed and then added: “So Jared had to explain that to me, which was very embarrassing.”
When the father-of-two asked if she had a real-life crush on her on-screen love interest, the actress quickly responded: “No, he was way too old.
“I was way too terrified. It was very fraternal. And he was actually pretty protective of me.
“I think I made it clear too from the beginning that – you know, 14 years old.”
Unlike the leading man who was seven years her senior, the teen still had to finish school while the show was in production.
“I was being tutored on set which was really weird.
“Going back to high school and making sense of those two identities was stressful and I don’t miss that,” she said of her early days on the Pennsylvania-based adolescent drama.
The show – which was canceled by ABC after only one season – skyrocketed the 30 Seconds to Mars frontman to fame and turned him into a Hollywood heartthrob.
It was also Claire’s big break who went on to star alongside Jared’s close friend Leo DiCaprio in the aforementioned, 1996 blockbuster Romeo +Juliet the following year.
Despite its critical success, the mental and physical demands of the young actors when they also had to balance schoolwork is said to be the reason the show was not renewed.