Key Takeaways
- Ethan Hawke said he reached the final stages of auditioning opposite Kate Winslet for Jack Dawson in Titanic but blew his chance because he “couldn’t shut up.”
- Hawke recalled pitching James Cameron on his own movie, comparing it to Before Sunrise and The Towering Inferno and predicting it would surpass Gone With the Wind and Star Wars.
- Leonardo DiCaprio ultimately landed the role, and Hawke believes the “cinema gods” made the right choice because he doubts he could have handled Titanic-level fame as well as DiCaprio did.
Ethan Hawke came closer to starring in Titanic than some fans may realize, but he believes he talked himself right out of the role.
During an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Hawke revealed that he made it to the final stages of the audition process for Jack Dawson, the role that ultimately went to Leonardo DiCaprio.
"I screen tested for Titanic," said Hawke. "I got close. I got several callbacks. You get to the final wire and I just, I completely blew it."
When Seth Meyers asked how he managed to ruin the opportunity, Hawke had a simple explanation.
"Because I can't shut up," he said.
Hawke explained that instead of simply performing the scene, he couldn't stop telling director James Cameron how much he loved the screenplay and how massive he believed the movie would become.
"I got into this audition. I started telling him what a work of staggering genius the movie was," Hawke recalled, saying he compared the script to a combination of Before Sunrise and The Towering Inferno.
Hawke even predicted that Cameron's movie could become "bigger than Gone With the Wind and bigger than Star Wars."
Unfortunately, he could tell his enthusiasm wasn't helping his chances.
"I thought this was going to be a huge amazing movie and I could see in his eyes like, this kid will not shut up," Hawke said. "And in my internal voice, I was like, ‘Just read the scene, just stop talking.’ But I couldn't stop talking."
Hawke was coming off 1994's Reality Bites when he screen tested opposite Kate Winslet. DiCaprio ultimately landed the part of Jack, while other actors reportedly considered for the role included Matthew McConaughey and Jeremy Sisto.
Despite missing out on one of the biggest movies ever made, Hawke doesn't believe history should have gone differently.
"I believe that cinema gods meant for that to be DiCaprio," he told Meyers.
Hawke has previously questioned whether he would have handled the enormous level of fame that followed Titanic as well as DiCaprio did.
"I don't think I would have handled that success as well as Leo," he once said. "He was a fucking Beatle."
There was at least one thing Hawke got right during his failed audition: his prediction about the movie's potential.
After Meyers pointed out that Hawke's forecast ultimately proved accurate, the actor happily took credit.
"Everything I said was true," Hawke joked.
