Jordan Strauss/Invision/APTalk about working one's magic.
Sure, it's pretty much common knowledge that Leonardo DiCaprio passed on starring in Hocus Pocus, but the actor has now revealed in a new interview with Variety that he turned down the part of Max Dennison in the 1993 Halloween comedy despite being offered "more money than I ever dreamed of."
It turns out he declined the gig because he was holding out for a part in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, a small indie that he hadn't even auditioned for yet.
"I don't know where the hell I got the nerve," DiCaprio said. "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."
Well, it certainly paid off in the end.
DiCaprio not only got the role of the mentally handicapped younger brother of Johnny Depp's character in the Lasse Hallström-directed film, but wound up earning his first Oscar nomination as well.