10 Genius Ways Directors Got The Actor They Wanted
These directors thought outside the box when it came to securing their preferred actor!
In a perfect world, when assembling a talented cast of thespians to bring their chosen big screen personalities to life on a cinematic stage, a director would be blessed with their undoubted number one choice for each and every role in question before setting their production in motion.
However, as you're likely more than aware of at this point, the casting process isn't always that straight forward, sadly.
For a whole host of reasons, a lot of the time it just isn't as easy as presenting a headshot of your desired acting sensation to the studio, handing over a contract and getting the show on the road. But these often frustrating hurdles only led to the incoming collection of directors having to think outside the box a touch in order to land an actor they clearly felt was the perfect fit for a character.
From playing Jedi mind tricks on some of Hollywood's finest, to making things a bit more personal with a pen, these directors had to resort to some wholly unexpected tactics to bring the star of their choosing to the party.
10. Martin Scorsese Sends Leonardo DiCaprio In To Convince Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs Of New York
Despite unquestionably acting as one of the most captivating and routinely mesmerising performers of his generation, Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't half have a habit of calling it quits.
And it was because of his self-imposed retirement from show-business to focus on being a cobbler, nearly two decades before his latest decision to kiss goodbye to the acting world, that Martin Scorsese had to call in a favour from arguably the most famous thespian on the planet at the time.
With the iconic director just about beginning his eventually fruitful partnership with Leonardo DiCaprio heading into his 2002 staggering feat of cinema by the name of Gangs of New York, Scorsese actually nudged his new leading man into trying to get Day-Lewis out of retirement to play the part of Bill "The Butcher" Cutting.
As Leo would confess to The Screen Actors Guild Association:
“Scorsese had actually said to me, ‘I’m not sure how Daniel feels, if he’s ready to work or not... You should have a conversation with him and suss it out.'”
A not at all awkward walk through Central Park eventually led to DiCaprio finally convincing Day-Lewis to join the crew on the back of himself and pal Tobey Maguire talking him into the eventually Academy-Award-nominated role over dinner.