"I was too old": 13 years before Tarantino's film, Brad Pitt declined this role opposite DiCaprio

Before “Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood,” Brad Pitt gave up on starring in a famous movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, in favor of a younger actor, also very famous. And the director of the project? Martin Scorsese. We'll let you guess…

It's hard to imagine how many potential collaborations have been lost in Hollywood. Directors fired, actors rejected, roles refused or missed: the film industry hides countless anecdotes about what could have been and never was. One of these stories has as its protagonist Brad Pitt, who had the opportunity to play the lead role in a huge Martin Scorsese film and decided to turn down this precious opportunity.

Before Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood, the three cinema legends that are Martin Scorsese, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio collaborated on the 2015 commercial The Audition, but the trio also had the chance to work together long before that. In 2003, Brad Pitt has in fact bought the rights to the American remake of the Chinese film Infernal Affairs (2002), alongside Warner Bros. and producer Brad Grey. The filmmaker chosen to direct the feature film was Martin Scorsese and the film in question, The Departed (2006).

At the beginning of the project, the idea was that Brad Pitt And Leonardo DiCaprio play the main characters in the film, but the first one was not comfortable with the fact that he was ten years older than the hero of Titanic.

“I developed it for two and a half years,” has explained Brad Pitt to Interview magazine in 2007.We fought for this film, and then we got William Monahan to (write) the script. Once (Martin) Scorsese got involved, I thought it would be better if it were young people starting their lives, guys coming out of the academy, guys who are hungry. I thought I was too old for that.”

The Fight Club star has therefore given up his leading role to a certain… Matt Damon! However, he continued to work on the film as a producer. The feature film, as you know, was awarded four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing.

As a reminder, in Infiltratorswe are south of Boston, where the State Police have been fighting organized crime for years. Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), a rookie cop who grew up in the slums, becomes the perfect candidate to infiltrate the mafia. Not only has he been trained for the job, but he has also spent time in prison to boost his credibility. His goal is to gain the trust of the godfather, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) and help dismantle the mob group.

However, the task will not be easy. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a police officer occupying a high position within the Special Investigation Unit, will complicate their mission. Although he seems to be the perfect officer, Sullivan hides many dark secrets…

Brad Pitt, not to be outdone

While Infiltrators was being filmed, Brad Pittfor his part, decided to star in Babel alongside Cate Blanchett, also released in 2006, and directed by filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu. Thanks to this film, he was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor.

And then he finally found it Leonardo DiCaprio in 2019 for the famous Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino and there again, success was there with ten Oscar nominations and two victories: one for the film's sets… and the other for Brad Pitt precisely, as best supporting actor!

The Departed is available to watch again on Prime Video. For Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, head over to Netflix!