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Leonardo DiCaprio reveals the one career move that was he says was his biggest 'regret'
Home>Celebrity>News
Published 18:35 15 Aug 2025 GMT+1

Leonardo DiCaprio reveals the one career move that was he says was his biggest 'regret'

DiCaprio couldn't imagine anyone else playing the character now

Britt Jones

Britt Jones

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Featured Image Credit: Emma McIntyre/WireImage via Getty Images

Topics: Mark Wahlberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Celebrity, Film and TV

Britt Jones
Britt Jones

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Leonardo DiCaprio has starred in a catalogue of defining Hollywood films, but there’s one he regrets not taking part in.

It’s hard to imagine DiCaprio regretting any career move, considering everything he’s ever been in has turned to gold. The 50-year-old actor has been in numerous hits such as Titanic, Romeo and Juliet, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Revenant, Inception, Shutter Island, Catch Me If You Can, The Wolf of Wall Street, and so many more.

Honestly, if I listed everything he’s been in, then chances are that you’re going to have heard of every single one of them.

However, the grass is always greener on the other side, and even hugely successful actors, like DiCaprio or even Will Smith, for that matter, are also privy to the 'what ifs' of life.

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Leonardo DiCaprio detailed a film Mark Wahlberg landed instead of him (Karwai Tang/WireImage)
Leonardo DiCaprio detailed a film Mark Wahlberg landed instead of him (Karwai Tang/WireImage)

When chatting with Esquire, the actor revealed the film role he'd wished he'd taken - Eddie Adams in 1997's Boogie Nights, which ended up going to Mark Wahlberg.

The film tells the story of Eddie, a dishwasher who works in a nightclub in the 70s. When Eddie is approached by filmmaker Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), he ends up breaking into the porn industry under the name of Dirk Diggler.

While DiCaprio was offered it first, he had already booked to play beloved Jack Dawson in James Cameron’s Titanic at the time, and let’s be honest…he made a good call.

But DiCaprio still decided to bring it up with Boogie Nights' director, Paul Thomas Anderson, with the Don't Look Up star telling him: “I’ll say it even though you’re here: My biggest regret is not doing Boogie Nights.”

However, the Revenant star admitted that now he couldn't imagine anyone but Wahlberg in the role, as he continued to say: "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.

The role ended up going to Marky Mark (New Line Cinema)
The role ended up going to Marky Mark (New Line Cinema)

"It’s ironic that you’re the person asking that question, but it’s true."

But while he didn't get to do Boogie Nights with Anderson, they have a new film lined up called One Battle After Another, which stars the actor as Bob Ferguson, a man being hunted by Sean Penn's Steven Lockjaw investigator.

DiCaprio explained how it has been on the director's desk 'for a long time', adding: “But ultimately, wanting to do this movie was pretty simple: I’ve been wanting to work with you - Paul - for something like 20 years now.

“And I loved this idea of the washed-up revolutionary trying to erase his past and disappear and try and live some sort of normal life raising his daughter.”

One Battle After Another hits theatres on September 26.

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