‘Titanic’ director reveals how he convinced Leonardo DiCaprio for film: ‘Had to twist his arm’

James Cameron opened up about the “difficult challenge” of convincing Leonardo DiCaprio to accept the role of Titanic.

The Avatar director said he had to “twist his arm” to do the film which made The Wolf of Wall Street star a household name.

“He didn’t want to do a leading man,” Cameron told People Magazine. “I had to really twist his arm to be in the movie. He didn’t want to do it. He thought it was boring.”

Cameron shared that the Hollywood hunk eventually “accepted the part” of Jack Dawson, it was “only when I convinced him that it was actually a difficult challenge.”

“It didn’t surprise me, first of all, that he’s made a lot of authentic choices going forward,” he added. “And secondly, I never doubted his talent.”

The director previously said that he “can’t image” the blockbuster movie without the leading stars, DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

The film, which still stands tall as one of the highest-grossing movies ever made, is all set to return to cinemas in 3D 4KHDR with high-frame rate to celebrate its 25th anniversary.