How Leonardo DiCaprio got his start

Leonardo DiCaprio almost blew his first big chance to be in movies, he recalls in Esquire. When he was 15, DiCaprio was one of several boys auditioning for the part of Robert De Niro’s abused stepson in the film This Boy’s Life. “He was going up to the kids with this almost empty mustard jar and cramming it into their faces, really pushing the kids’ buttons,” says DiCaprio. “It was being used to see if the kid could stand up to De Niro, and it was hard not to be overwhelmed.” Determined not to cower, DiCaprio stood his ground. “When he started bludgeoning me, I completely overcompensated. He said, ‘Is this empty? Is this empty?’ I slapped the jar out of his hand, got right up in his face, and screamed at the top of my lungs ‘Noooooooo!’ It was the most god-awful way to do the scene.” De Niro reacted with complete silence before breaking into a laugh. “He looks at me and goes, ‘Heh, heh, heh,’ in that way only De Niro can laugh, and said, ‘That was goooood. A little over-the-top but good.’” DiCaprio left the room thinking he had ruined the chance of a lifetime. “Getting that part felt like winning the lottery,” he says. “Sometimes you’ve got to go to the wrong place just to show that you’re not afraid to go there.”

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