Leonardo DiCaprio instead worked opposite Claire Danes in a picture that was nominated for an Oscar.
These days there is almost as much attention on the young ages of Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriends as on his acting. As a youngster himself, he was a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood in the 1990s. Not only did he star in the record-breaking Titanic, but he also took the lead in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, as well as The Man in the Iron Mask, Total Eclipse and The Quick and the Dead. In 1996 he began working with Baz Luhrmann to bring Romeo + Juliet to life. There were some casting issues, though, and, ironically, they were to do with the age of his on-screen lover.
Long before Claire Danes took on the titular role of Juliet in the movie, DiCaprio was first due to play Romeo opposite Natalie Portman.
The Israeli-American actress, at the time, was an up-and-coming star who had only appeared in a handful of movies – including Léon: The Professional. So this modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s was sure to catapult her into superstardom. Unfortunately, there was one major issue. DiCaprio, who was playing Romeo, was 21-years-old, while Portman was just 13-years-old.
If Portman were to play Juliet in Romeo + Juliet she would have matched the age of the character in the original source material. The Bard wrote Romeo as 16-years-old, while Juliet was just 13-years-old. But still, this eight-year age gap caused quite a stir behind the scenes.
Portman previously looked back on the casting efforts, calling it a “complicated situation”, according to Unilad.
“At the time I was 13 and Leonardo was 21,” she explained before adding: “It wasn’t appropriate in the eyes of the film company or the director, Baz.”
After much back and forth, Portman was removed from the project. She went on to call her exit a shared choice.
She said: “It was kind of a mutual decision, too, that it just wasn’t going to be right at the time.”
