Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are perfect for their roles as Jack and Rose in Titanic. Yet before the actors got cast, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were also being looked at for the film. Considering Pitt and Aniston were married for five years, it’s safe to say their romantic chemistry would be incredible in James Cameron’s movie. But can you imagine the Friends actress and Pitt for the roles of Jack and Rose?
According to Rolling Stone, Winslet was determined to play the role of Rose in Titanic. The actress, then 19, claims she “wept buckets” after reading the script, and knew all at once she’d do anything to get the part. Winslet hounded Cameron for the role, calling him on his car-phone (throwback) and giving him a rose.
Cameron finally accepted her offer, yet it took a lot of convincing for DiCaprio to take on the role of Jack Dawson. According to Winslet and the producer of Titanic, the Great Gatsby actor initially didn’t want to star in the movie. DiCaprio, at the time, wanted to break away from his “heartthrob” status and instead pursue “deeply flawed characters.” But Rae Sanchini, the film’s producer, helped inspire DiCaprio to take on the role.
“When you think about it, Jack is the purest of heart. We meet him, and he’s not conflicted,” Sanchini says. “He knows exactly who he is. Jack knows his place in the world. He’s fearless…he falls in love, but he doesn’t change as a person…He makes his choice to die for the woman he loves, and he’s at peace with that.” DiCaprio then came to the conclusion that “playing a character like Jack, who doesn’t have any obvious stuff to hide behind…was a challenge in and of itself.” https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
Winslet also had to work hard to convince her now-best friend to take on the role. She tells Rolling Stone, “I was thinking, ‘I’m going to persuade him to do this, because I’m not doing it without him, and that’s all there is to it. I will have him.’ Because he is f***ing brilliant. He’s a f***ing genius, and that was absolutely why.”