--- title: Leonardo DiCaprio Romeo and Juliet: How He Landed the Role description: Leonardo DiCaprio may be one of Hollywood's most sought after actors now, but there was a time when he had to prove himself to land a role. canonical: https://time.com/4450286/leonardo-dicaprio-romeo-and-juliet-baz-luhrmann/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-12T16:09:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:57:11.834Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Here's How Leonardo DiCaprio Landed His Iconic Role in Romeo and Juliet og:description: "I realised that I couldn't make it without him" og:url: https://time.com/4450286/leonardo-dicaprio-romeo-and-juliet-baz-luhrmann/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta63531c81dfb239c/6988904ccd1bba190070062d/160422_em_shakespearemovies.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 160422_EM_ShakespeareMovies og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Leonardo DiCaprio Landed His Iconic Role in Romeo and Juliet twitter:description: "I realised that I couldn't make it without him" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta63531c81dfb239c/6988904ccd1bba190070062d/160422_em_shakespearemovies.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Leonardo DiCaprio Landed His Iconic Role in _Romeo and Juliet_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Aug 12, 2016 4:09 PM UTC  Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo and Juliet (1996) Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo and Juliet (1996)Twentieth Century Fox  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Aug 12, 2016 4:09 PM UTC [Leonardo DiCaprio](http://time.com/4311662/leonardo-dicaprio-selfie/) may be one of Hollywood’s most sought after actors now, but there was a time when the [Oscar-winning](http://time.com/4240647/the-revenant-bear-oscars/) [_The Revenant_](http://time.com/4226712/the-revenant-fur-trade-history/) star had to prove himself before landing a role. [_Vanity Fair_](http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/leo-dicaprio-romeo-juliet#17)reports that when a young Leo first auditioned for Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 adaptation of Shakespeare’s _Romeo and Juliet_, the director didn’t even know who he was. “When I saw Leonardo I thought, god, that’s how he should look but can he act?” he said during a recent appearance on iHeart Radio. “Then I found out he was the preeminent young actor.” However, Luhrmann became convinced DiCaprio was right for the part when the actor flew to Australia to prove himself. “He came down to Australia and he brought all these friends and we made a whole video of the show with other actors,” Luhrmann said. “I won’t say who, it will never be seen, I realised that I couldn’t make it without him.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4450286/leonardo-dicaprio-romeo-and-juliet-baz-luhrmann/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4450286/leonardo-dicaprio-romeo-and-juliet-baz-luhrmann/"},"headline":"Here's How Leonardo DiCaprio Landed His Iconic Role in Romeo and Juliet","datePublished":"2016-08-12T16:09:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:57:11.834Z","description":"\"I realised that I couldn't make it without him\"","url":"https://time.com/4450286/leonardo-dicaprio-romeo-and-juliet-baz-luhrmann/","keywords":["movies","Leonardo DiCaprio"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta63531c81dfb239c/6988904ccd1bba190070062d/160422_em_shakespearemovies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta63531c81dfb239c/6988904ccd1bba190070062d/160422_em_shakespearemovies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"160422_EM_ShakespeareMovies","caption":"Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio in ROMEO AND JULIET (1996)","creditText":"Twentieth Century Fox","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4450286/leonardo-dicaprio-romeo-and-juliet-baz-luhrmann/","name":"Here's How Leonardo DiCaprio Landed His Iconic Role in Romeo and Juliet"}}]}] ```