Both Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale are two of the most respected and in-demand actors in the industry. But did you know that there is a rumor that the actors have been feuding for decades?
There are thousands of actors in Hollywood, but very few have been able to achieve what Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale have done. Both are the same age and have been involved in acting since they were little, and to this day, they are considered one of the most talented and committed performers in the field.
Leonardo DiCaprio began acting in the early 1990s and quickly caught the public's attention with his talent. In 1993 he garnered much praise for his work in Who Does Gilbert Grape Love? and from that moment on, his career took off and he started starring in every movie we could see him in.
Something similar happened with Christian Bale who in 1987 starred in Empire of the Sun, Steven Spielberg's war drama that earned him a lot of recognition. Since then, the actor has been part of great films that have shaped his career, such as Little Women in 1994, among others.
Interestingly, the actors never worked together, even though they were trained in the industry at the same time. This has led to the belief that there could be a bad relationship between the two and that over time, this became a professional rivalry since the fact that they started working at the same time ended up putting them in constant competition.
Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio vied for roles in Hollywood, a competitive dynamic acknowledged by Bale himself. He once affirmed, "The situation isn't unique to me. Even now, every part that someone secures is often the result of others declining it earlier. The narratives people share and the connections they hold with directors don't always determine the outcome."
This confession by the actor came hand in hand with a question that the interpreter of Batman was asked about Leonardo DiCaprio, with whom he has disputed roles for decades. Without going any further, Bale lost to Leo the role of Toby in The Enemy (1993), a film that the actor ended up starring with Robert De Niro. which also ended in losing Christian Bale.
Bale also ended up losing a role in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet and in Titanic, where James Cameron turned him down for being British, as the characters had to be American. All this generated some annoyance and frustration in the actor because all the roles he was looking for ended up falling into the hands of DiCaprio.
Luckily, there was an occasion in which the reverse happened, since Leo was a contender to play Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, a film that today is a classic of Christian Bale's filmography. Initially, the film had Mary Harron as director and Bale in the lead role, however, when she was fired her, Oliver Stone came in to replace her, opting for DiCaprio instead of the British. (Un)Fortunately, both ended up pulling out of the project due to creative issues, leaving Harron and Bale in their original roles.
Although it is said that this rivalry would have arisen from the roles that they have lost with each other, Christian Bale has shown that he does not let that affect him. So thank you, Leo, because he literally gets to choose what he does, and good for him, he's phenomenal." The actor expressed in the same interview.
In addition, he added that he did not take it personally, since Leonardo DiCaprio is a very talented person, and no one can do it like him. The performers never worked together, but they did forge two careers filled with excellent performances and plenty of versatility, proving why they are two of the best in the business.
