Leonardo DiCaprio and Natalie Portman are both huge celebrities, so a lot of studios would like them to kiss onscreen. However, one studio hated a screen test they did together. Here’s the reason Portman didn’t get a role in one of DiCaprio’s classic movies.
Natalie Portman auditioned for a role in one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s previous films
Today, DiCaprio and Portman both have well-known romantic roles under their belt. DiCaprio played romantic lead roles in period plays Titanic and Gatsby the magnificent. Additionally, Portman played Senator Amidala in Attack of the clones, the Star wars film which is arguably the most romance-oriented. However, their early career was different.
DiCaprio didn’t become a romantic actor until he starred in Baz Luhramann’s Romeo + Juliet. In the film he played Romeo Montague. According to BuzzFeed, Portman was considered for the role of Juliet, but it ultimately went to Claire Danes. During an interview, Portman explained why she had not appeared in the film.
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“It was a complicated situation and it had to do with the time when I was 13 and Leonardo 21 and it wasn’t appropriate in the eyes of the film company or director Baz. [Luhrmann]”Portman said. “And it was kind of a mutual decision that it wasn’t going to be right at the time and I think the movie came out really, really beautifully and Claire Danes did a really, really nice job. It just wasn’t the right time, you know?
In a separate interview with The New York Times, Portman went into more detail about how the folks at 20th Century Fox were upset when they saw her kissing DiCaprio in a screen test. “Fox said it seemed like Leonardo DiCaprio was assaulting me when we kissed,” Portman said. Around the same time, she also turned down the title role in an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita because it dealt with the sexuality of minors.
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How the cast of a young actress allegedly stayed true to William Shakespeare’s play – and offended modern sensibilities
Shakespeare writes Romeo and Juliet over 400 years ago. Obviously, cultural norms changed dramatically during this period. In the play, Juliet is 13 years old. During the play, she falls in love and gets married.
It is not known how old Romeo is supposed to be, however, it is no longer culturally acceptable or legal for a 13-year-old to marry in many countries. Casting a young Portman in the role would mirror the text of the play, however, it would make a lot of people very uncomfortable fostering a backslid attitude towards marriage.
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Some adaptations of Romeo and Juliet try to remove this dated item from the story. For example, Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” is loosely based on the play and doesn’t mention Juliet’s age. Romeo + Juliet neither, which makes sense. After all, it is a modernization of history – and it reflects modern values.
