Leonardo DiCaprio’s co-star was fired from the film ‘due to his young age’

Leonardo DiCaprio was a force to be reckoned with in the 1990s. He not only starred in the record-breaking Titanic, but he also starred in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, as well as The Man in the Iron Mask, Total Eclipse, and The Quick and the Dead. . But in 1996 he began working with Baz Luhrmann to bring Romeo + Juliet to life. However, there were some casting problems.

Long before Claire Danes took over the lead role of Juliet in the film, DiCaprio was due to play Romeo opposite Natalie Portman.

The Israeli-American actress, at the time, was an up-and-coming star who had only appeared in a handful of films, including Léon: The Professional. So this modern adaptation of Shakespeare would surely catapult her to stardom. Unfortunately, there was a major problem. DiCaprio, who played Romeo, was 21 years old, while Portman was only 13 years old.

If Portman were to play Juliet in Romeo + Juliet, she would have matched the character’s age in the source material. The Bard wrote Romeo when she was 16, while Juliet was only 13.

But still, this eight-year age difference caused quite a stir behind the scenes.

Before long, Luhrmann (who recently directed the Elvis Presley biopic Elvis), began looking for another actress to fill Portman’s place.

He ultimately chose the Danes, who had recently risen to fame on the television series My So-Called Life. But she was also slightly younger than DiCaprio at just 17 during the filming of Romeo + Juliet.

However, this isn’t the first time DiCaprio has teamed up with a younger woman. Reports recently surfaced that he may have a new girlfriend in Eden Polani, a 19-year-old Israeli model who has 200,000 followers on Instagram.

DiCaprio and Polani were recently spotted together, sparking rumors about their love life.

At the time of writing, DiCaprio is 48 years old, which makes him 29 years older than his alleged mistress.

Before Polani, DiCaprio was dating model and actress Camila Morrone. When they got together she was 20 years old and he was 42. They separated in 2022.

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