Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘Titanic’ Role Jack Was Almost Given To Matthew McConaughey

Leonardo DiCaprio’s role in “Titanic” helped launched his career 20 years ago. But her co-star, Kate Winslet, recently revealed that the character was almost given to Matthew McConaughey.

While at “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (via People) Winslet revealed that she auditioned for the role of Rose with McConaughey. “Never said that in public before. I auditioned with Matthew, which was completely fantastic. It just wouldn’t have been the whole ‘Jack and Rose, Kate and Leo’ thing,” she said.

Winslet also said that McConaughey was Paramount Pictures’ original pick for the role. However, director James Cameron vouched for DiCaprio, and his desire eventually prevailed.

There were also a handful of other women who auditioned for the part of Rose. During a 2012 interview, Winslet revealed that Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder and Gwyneth Paltrow also auditioned for the role.

“Titanic” went on to become one of the highest grossing movies of all time with $2.19 billion in gross earnings. For its 20^th anniversary, the film was once again shown in select theaters.

Meanwhile, Winslet also revealed that it was Cameron who drew the famous sketch of Rose in the movie and not DiCaprio himself. The 42-year-old actress also joked about Jack “lying” about not letting go of Rose because that’s exactly what he did.

In one of the scenes, Rose lay on a floating door and was kept safe by Jack. Winslet said that Jack should’ve tried to get on the same floating door because they would’ve both fit. Fans also noted that Rose should have given Jack space so they could both be saved.

However, even though Jack could’ve also survived, Cameron stressed the importance of the character dying in the film. While speaking with Vanity Fair last month, Cameron said that it was an “artistic choice” on his part.

“The thing was just big enough to hold her, and not big enough to hold him. Had he lived, the ending of the film would have been meaningless… The film is about death and separation; he had to die. So whether it was that, or whether a smoke stack fell on him, he was going down,” he said.