10 HUGE Movie Roles Actors Were Too Scared To Take On

10. Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) - Leonardo DiCaprio

It may seem hard to believe for contemporary fans of Leo DiCaprio who are used to seeing him inhabit darker roles like the vicious Calvin Candy in Tarantino’s Django Unchained, but there was a time when the thespian was too scared to take on any villainous parts.

A young heartthrob famous for his starring roles in Romeo + Juliet and Titanic, in the late nineties DiCaprio had a sizeable teenage fan base to consider when it came time to decide which roles to take on and which to ditch.

This made things awkward when, way back in 1999, he was rumoured to be in talks to play the title role in an adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho. DiCaprio was offered a tidy sum for the role of a Patrick Bateman, the talkative sociopath of the title, but turned down the role for fear of alienating his younger fan base.

The now-classic novel caused considerable controversy upon its initial release and the Mary Harron-helmed film was bound to do the same, despite the director’s artful approach to the book’s riskier scenes. So it was that the role went to Christian Bale, propelling him to stardom rivalling his former competitor.