--- title: Leonardo DiCaprio's Hocus Pocus Audition Story Is Everything description: Hocus Pocus may be one of the most popular Halloween cult classics out there, but it apparently had the potential to be even more iconic. canonical: https://time.com/4989996/leonardo-dicaprio-hocus-pocus-audition/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-19T19:17:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:09.449Z og:title: The Story of Leonardo DiCaprio's Hocus Pocus Audition Is Everything You Want It to Be og:description: How Leo almost played Max in the Halloween cult classic og:url: https://time.com/4989996/leonardo-dicaprio-hocus-pocus-audition/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e6120cc8849cd0f/6988e2ade76ad21d2c62f9f6/leonardo-dicaprio-hocus-pocus.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Leonardo DiCaprio og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Story of Leonardo DiCaprio's Hocus Pocus Audition Is Everything You Want It to Be twitter:description: How Leo almost played Max in the Halloween cult classic twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e6120cc8849cd0f/6988e2ade76ad21d2c62f9f6/leonardo-dicaprio-hocus-pocus.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Story of Leonardo DiCaprio's _Hocus Pocus_ Audition Is Everything You Want It to Be > Sponsored content. 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Rose Hartman/Archive Photos/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Oct 19, 2017 7:17 PM UTC [_Hocus Pocus_](http://time.com/4961675/hocus-pocus-new-cast-reactions/)may be one of the most popular [Halloween cult classics](http://time.com/4972141/best-halloween-movies-2017/) out there, but it apparently had the potential to be even more iconic. In a recent interview with [_Entertainment Weekly_](http://ew.com/movies/2017/10/19/hocus-pocus-leonardo-dicaprio/), director Kenny Ortega shared the story of [Leonardo DiCaprio’s](http://time.com/4951684/leo-dicaprio-donald-trump/) audition to play Max in the 1993 tale of the Sanderson Sisters. “The \[casting\] ladies called me up and they said, ‘We’re sending you an actor today but he’s not available but you’re going to fall in love with him but you can’t have him.’ I’m like, ‘Why are you teasing me?’ They were like, ‘You need to see this guy because he’ll inspire you and if nothing else, he’ll help you find the right guy to play Max,'” he explained. “And they send me in a young Leonardo DiCaprio, who I completely and absolutely fall in love with.” Ortega went on to explain how he couldn’t help but be charmed by Leo even knowing he was otherwise committed. “He’s just the most sincere and most centered and a wild child at the same time,” he said. “He was feeling awkward. He was like, ‘I just feel really bad being here because I’m up for two other movies and I really want them both and I don’t want to lead you on.’ I was like, ‘That’s okay, I was already warned. What are the movies?’ One of them was _This Boy’s Life_ and the other one was _What’s Eating Gilbert Grape_. Obviously, he left and incredible things happened for that young man and to this day, but meeting him awakened me to the kind of spirit and fun and sincerity that I was looking for in an actor.” Read the full story at [_EW_](http://ew.com/movies/2017/10/19/hocus-pocus-leonardo-dicaprio/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4989996/leonardo-dicaprio-hocus-pocus-audition/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4989996/leonardo-dicaprio-hocus-pocus-audition/"},"headline":"The Story of Leonardo DiCaprio's Hocus Pocus Audition Is Everything You Want It to Be","datePublished":"2017-10-19T19:17:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:09.449Z","description":"\"He’s just the most sincere and most centered and a wild child at the same time\"","url":"https://time.com/4989996/leonardo-dicaprio-hocus-pocus-audition/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Leonardo DiCaprio"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e6120cc8849cd0f/6988e2ade76ad21d2c62f9f6/leonardo-dicaprio-hocus-pocus.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":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9e6120cc8849cd0f/6988e2ade76ad21d2c62f9f6/leonardo-dicaprio-hocus-pocus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Leonardo DiCaprio","caption":"Leonardo DiCaprio, circa 1993.","creditText":"Rose Hartman/Archive Photos/Getty Images","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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4989996/leonardo-dicaprio-hocus-pocus-audition/","name":"The Story of Leonardo DiCaprio's Hocus Pocus Audition Is Everything You Want It to Be"}}]}] ```