Michael Mann almost cast Leonardo DiCaprio in a biopic about James Dean

At the age of 19, Leonardo DiCaprio almost played James Dean in a biopic following an “amazing” screen test. The director Michael Mann said he wrote a “brilliant screenplay” on the late actor before 1995’s Heat, but he chose the crime epic instead since his choice, Leonardo DiCaprio, was “too young.”

In an interview with Deadline, Mann said, “James Dean’s death was so weird.”. He praised the screenplay. It’s then a question of who in the hell could play James Dean? In addition, I found a chap who had the potential to play James Dean, but he was too young. It was Leo. During our screen test, he must have been 19 years old.

From one angle, he seemed to have it in his hands. That’s brilliance, I tell you. Whenever he turned his face, we saw a vision of James Dean, then he turned it the other way and it was a young kid, not James Dean.

About three years after that, I found the perfect act for the play. I was respectfully undone of James Dean’s biography.” In September 1955, Dean was killed in a car accident at age 24 after starring in three films: East Of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant.

It was in the 1990s that DiCaprio had his breakthrough roles, including 1993’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, 1996’s Romeo + Juliet, and 1997’s Titanic.  Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon, set for release next year, will be his next project.

Meanwhile, Mann is planning to adapt Heat’s sequel to a “large, ambitious film”, which takes place before and after the original. “We plan to make it into a movie,” Mann said. “Is this a modest film?” It’s not. Is this a very expensive series? Not at all. This will be a very large movie.

Robert Poirrer

Robert Poirrer is a contributing author who covers Hollywood latest movie releases and web series for the MovieThop website. He has a decade of experience in writing movies based articles for numerous renowned media outlets. He is excellent at creating unique content based on emerging trends in a variety of categories especially entertainment, movies and lifestyle. When not writing articles you could find Robert enjoying mountain biking trips with his friends. He graduated in English Literature from North Carolina State University.