Why Billy Crudup turned down the biggest movie of all time: “I didn’t show a lot of enthusiasm”
Billy Crudup has spent most of his career as an actor as something of a hidden gem.
Though never far from the spotlight, even his most acclaimed roles don’t generate the same sort of buzz as many of his contemporaries. He’s been nominated for Tonys and Golden Globes and even won an Emmy in 2020 for his role on The Morning Show, but he still feels like he’s not given the dues he deserves. He’s even overshadowed in his own marriage, having married the great Naomi Watts in 2023.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Crudup’s career is the number of famous roles he’s missed out on. He very nearly played Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, before dropping out to make way for Christian Bale to give his career-launching performance. He was offered parts in two Ang Lee movies – Bruce Banner in Hulk and Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain – but said no to both. However, arguably the biggest character he missed out on was that of Jack Dawson in Titanic.
Depending on who you ask, James Cameron either thought Crudup was too old to play Dawson or he offered him the part but was met with a rejection. In the latter version of the story, he rejected the part of the ill-fated passenger in favour of Without Limits, a biopic about long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine. In an interview with The Guardian in 2002, he gave his side of the story.
“A lot of us guys were called in to read for the role,” he explained. “I just didn’t show a lot of enthusiasm. It’s not the kind of film I wanted to be involved in.” Unfortunately for Crudup’s bank balance, Titanic was the “kind of film” that audiences wanted to see.
It cannot be understated just how big a deal this tale of doomed love and iceberg ignorance was when it first hit cinemas. It blew almost every record out of the water (if you’ll pardon the pun), becoming the first film to gross over $1billion at the box office. As for Jack, he made a star out of Leonardo DiCaprio. Even following the incredible career he’s had since Titanic came out, it’s still a role that Leo cannot escape. As for Without Limits, well, let’s just say Crudup wasn’t getting mugged in the street after that one came out.
Though he didn’t mention them by name, there’s a chance that the “guys” Crudup shared a room with at the audition were all very famous. Chris O’Donnell and Matthew McConaughey were also considered, but ruled out for being too old.
Tom Cruise was supposedly asked to play the role, but demanded too much money, while Jared Leto straight-up refused to audition. Christian Bale and Paul Rudd both went to audition, while Ethan Hawke still has nightmares about missing out on the chance to not get on that door.
That’s what makes Crudup such an interesting character. He doesn’t seem to have lost any sleep over missing out on such a lucrative role, or any role for that matter. He’s quite content to play the parts he wants to play and stay relatively unknown. Even if his accountant probably had no idea.
