Having already made his name with his performance in 1993’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape alongside Mary Steenburgen, the future Oscar winner was picked to star in James Cameron’s Titanic.
But Reilly, 61, has now admitted he strongly pushed DiCaprio toward ditching the future classic and starring alongside him in Paul Thomas Anderson’s porn industry film Boogie Nights, while branding the opportunity to appear in Titanic pointless and boring as audiences knew how the film would end.
Reilly said: “At the time we were trying to get Boogie Nights put together, being in porn was thought of as taboo. It’s hard to even imagine now, you probably remember.
“All these actors and their managers and their agents were like, ‘Porn? Whoa, whoa, man. No. No.’ And there’s a penis in the movie! Everyone, ‘no, no, no, no.'”
The actor explained Anderson had desperately wanted DiCaprio to play Dirk Diggler in the raunchy movie before the role eventually went to Mark Wahlberg.
Reilly said: “Before Mark was asked to do the movie, Paul really wanted Leo DiCaprio to do it.
“And I had already done What’s Eating Gilbert Grape with Mary and Leo, and I knew Leo. I met him when he was 17. And I was like, ‘Give me the assignment, Paul. I’ll get this guy to do your movie. I have known him since he’s a kid.'”