10 Actors Who Were Scared Of Other Actors
5. Jack Nicholson Terrified Leonardo DiCaprio With A Gun Prop (The Departed)
For better or worse, Jack Nicholson seems like a pretty intense actor. There's just something unnerving and unpredictable about him, and Leonardo DiCaprio, his co-star in The Departed, will certainly attest to that.
One of the best scenes in the movie involves an exchange between Nicholson's mob boss Frank Costello, and DiCaprio's out-of-his-depth undercover cop, Billy Costigan. Costello smells a rat in his midst, and so, he confronts Costigan, looking for answers.
Midway through their conversation, Costello reaches under a table and pulls out a gun, brandishing it in Costigan's face. Naturally, Costigan - the rat - grows uneasy, afraid that his brains might end up being splattered all over the room.
It's a terrific scene and the tension is palpable, and that's probably because DiCaprio's look of fear is genuine. The actor was properly frightened of his co-star, because he had no idea that Nicholson was about to pull out a gun.
Nicholson was deliberately trying to make DiCaprio afraid in order to enhance the drama of the scene, and clearly, he was successful in that task.