DiCaprio regrets Boogie Nights role; teams with Anderson on new film

Leonardo DiCaprio has articulated a long-standing regret that has become a defining footnote of his career: turning down the lead role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights to pursue Titanic. In a recent interview conducted with Anderson for Esquire, DiCaprio said the decision still resonates, calling Boogie Nights “a profound movie of my generation” and insisting that he cannot picture anyone but Mark Wahlberg in the part. He added that he recommended Wahlberg to Anderson after they worked together in The Basketball Diaries, but he has come to believe he could have done both projects had circumstances allowed.

Boogie Nights, released in 1997, centers on a teenage dishwasher who is discovered by a porn director and becomes a major star in the 1970s film scene. The project helped launch Wahlberg’s acting profile and is now widely regarded as a milestone in contemporary cinema. DiCaprio’s regret is tied to a crossroads that would have altered the arc of his career; Titanic’s enormous success soon followed, reshaping the kinds of roles he pursued for years to come. The director has publicly acknowledged the close professional bond that finally brought them together, even as they...