Leonardo DiCaprio was sold hard on Boogie Nights before he passed, Oscar nominee John C. Reilly revealed.
The Boogie Nights star detailed the conversation he had with DiCaprio after director Paul Thomas Anderson decided that the actor would be the perfect Dirk Diggler.
“At the time we were trying to get Boogie Nights put together, being in porn was thought of as taboo,” Reilly told Ted Danson on the latest episode of the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast.
The movie’s main character, an adult film star, was ultimately played by Mark Wahlberg, but not before Reilly put in effort to get Anderson the actor he’d originally wanted for the role.
“Mark Wahlberg’s manager told him, ‘Don’t do it,’” Riley recalled of the unmentionable nature of the film’s plot at the time, as the 1997 dramedy chronicles a naive busboy’s rise to fame as a porn star. “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,” Reilly continued, referencing the 1994 film he starred in with DiCaprio and Danson’s wife, Mary Steenburgen.
The movie earned DiCaprio his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor at just 19 years old. Reilly was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2003 for his role in Chicago.
“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’ve known him since he was a kid.” Reilly said that he gave the pitch his all when he finally had DiCaprio’s ear. “I go and meet him. And Leo had been offered Titanic,” he explained. That 1997 Best Picture winner ended up being by far DiCaprio’s biggest office hit to date.
“I sat down with him on Hillhurst there in Silver Lake, and I was like, ‘Listen, Leo, let me tell you something. That movie Titanic is about a boat that sinks. Everyone knows the boat sinks! No one’s going to give a s--t about who’s on the boat. This guy, this director, is going to be one of the most talented film directors going forward, and you should not miss this opportunity.’”
But DiCaprio was resolved, Reilly recalled.
“He was like, ‘Well, I don’t know. My agents are all they’re saying this is going to be a really big movie and I should do it.’ And I was like, ‘I’m telling you, man. I’m telling you, I wouldn’t give you a bum steer here. It’s about a boat that sinks,’” Reilly added.
DiCaprio made his choice, but suggested Wahlberg, his The Basketball Diaries co-star, for the role. “And so, the rest is history,” Reilly continued, “But then Leo regretted that decision for—I can’t speak for him, but I think that all the success, the massive success that came with that movie was both a blessing and a curse. It was just a lot for a young man.”
Riley’s comments echoed DiCaprio’s own words when he was interviewed by Anderson for Esquire to promote their collaboration on One Battle After Another.
“I’ll say it even though you’re here: My biggest regret is not doing Boogie Nights,” he said. “It was a profound movie of my generation. I can’t imagine anyone but Mark in it. When I finally got to see that movie, I just thought it was a masterpiece. It’s ironic that you’re the person asking” about regrets, he continued, “but it’s true.”
Reilly said he got a certain satisfaction from seeing Anderson and DiCaprio finally do a film together. One Battle won six Oscars this year, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
“I think he thought, ‘What would my other path have been?’” if he’d taken the Boogie Nights role, Reilly surmised, “And then finally it happened, this past couple years… So that was very satisfying for me.”
