Why Ethan Hawke regrets missing out on James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’: “I would never have had to worry about my career”
Ethan Hawke has landed some pretty desirable roles across his career. One of his first big screen appearances was as Todd Anderson, the troubled young boy at the centre of Dead Poets Society. As Jesse Wallace, he won the hearts of millions as the meandering, highly relatable male protagonist of Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy. In 2020, he established himself as a horror icon with his performance as The Grabber in The Black Phone, a character he is set to return to in the much-anticipated sequel.
However, as with every famous actor, Hawke has also missed out on some very lucrative gigs. He openly rues his decision to turn down a role in Independence Day, and he’s also missed out on playing the title characters in both Doctor Strange and Batman Forever across his career. In the early days of his career, Hawke auditioned for the role of Jack Dawson in James Cameron’s Titanic. He didn’t get it, obviously, which led to a heartbreaking moment some years later when he found himself drinking in the same bar as Leonardo DiCaprio.
“I sat there watching him, and it was like watching a Beatle,” he told The Telegraph. “The closest thing I’ve ever come to that frenzy. All the girls wanted to fuck him, and all the guys wanted to fight him. I went to myself: ‘Wow man, I’m glad I didn’t get that part.’” He might have initially felt relieved, but that soon turned to jealousy. “Secretly, I couldn’t help thinking that if I had got it, maybe I could have lived exactly the life I wanted to,” he admitted. “That I would never have had to worry about my career. Damn DiCaprio!’”
It goes without saying that landing Jack would have changed the young actor’s life forever. As well as becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time, Titanic is permanently seared into the fabric of pop culture. If things had gone differently, it would have been Hawke proclaiming himself “king of the world” while riding the doomed ship’s bow or being told not to let go by a distraught Kate Winslet. Hawke was already famous at the time, but this would have catapulted him into the stratosphere.
That being said, it’s hard to picture him in this role for two major reasons. Firstly, Hawke is famously opposed to the more public-facing responsibilities of being a celebrity. He doesn’t care much for the limelight, regularly lamenting his past efforts to ‘sell-out’ and deliberating on choosing smaller projects to avoid public scrutiny. With all this in mind, he probably would have hated every single second that followed Titanic’s release.
Secondly, DiCaprio did such a good job as Jack that envisioning anybody else in the role is almost criminal. He embodies the roguish, affable, kind-hearted nature of the young artist to a tee, effortlessly investing the audience in his ups and downs. Not to say that Hawke couldn’t have done this, but it doesn’t seem like the sort of performance that would come naturally to him.
There’s actually another reason why Hawke should be grateful he didn’t get this job. Losing out on Titanic left him open to star in the movie Gattaca, which is where he met his eventual wife, Uma Thurman. If he had been cast as Jack, then the world wouldn’t have Maya Hawke, which isn’t even worth contemplating.
