Leonardo DiCaprio was almost Max Dennison.
In a new interview, the actor reveals he was offered the starring role in 1993 film "Hocus Pocus," a role that eventually went to Omri Katz after Leo turned it down.
DiCaprio tells Variety he was offered "more money that I ever dreamed of" to take the part, but he held out so he could audition for "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."
"I don't know where the hell I got the nerve," he says. "You live in an environment where you're influenced by people telling you to make a lot of money and strike while the iron's hot. But if there's one thing I'm very proud of, it's being a young man who was sticking to my guns."
The gamble paid off, as Leo got his first Academy Award nomination for his work as an autistic teen in the movie.
And while he was a staple of the teen heartthrob magazines back in the '90s, he says that was never his intention.
"When I was 14, I was on the cover of Bop and Tiger Beat," he says. "Every two months, I would see a new kid's face, and I remember saying, 'This is not something that lasts very long.'"
Luckily, his performances in films like "Titanic," "The Aviator," "The Departed" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" will definitely live longer than any awkward photo shoot in any of those teeny bopper magazines.
To see more stars who turned down major roles, check out the gallery below. And be sure to see what the cast of "Hocus Pocus" looks like now above!
