15 Actors Who Stupidly Turned Down Billion Dollar Movies

7. Johnny Depp & Drew Barrymore - Titanic

Before he settled on Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet - both of whom received career-making boosts - James Cameron had several different ideas of who should lead his Titanic cast. His first choice was Drew Barrymore, but the actress said he would have been miscast and turned it down.

Famously, both Gwyneth Paltrow and Nicole Kidman also turned the role of Rose down, for which Kate Winslet is presumably eternally grateful.

Johnny Depp turned the film down too, telling Howard Stern that he "labored" through the script. Harsh.

What They Made Instead

Around the mammoth production of Titanic - which apparently broke several actors thanks to Cameron's intensity - Depp was making the great Donnie Brasco and the terrible The Brave (his directorial debut). Neither would have catapulted him to the big time like Titanic would have.