Paul Thomas Anderson Says Leonardo DiCaprio Was Never Up For Bradley Cooper’s Role in ‘Licorice Pizza’

When Leonardo DiCaprio was trying to figure out what to do after “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” reports started coming up about some of the biggest A-list filmmakers working today trying to nab him for roles. One of those names was Paul Thomas Anderson, who was developing the film that would go on to be known as “Licorice Pizza.” The rumor went that DiCaprio passed on the film and his role eventually went to Bradley Cooper. But according to Anderson, that’s not actually how it happened.

Speaking in a recent Time interview, Paul Thomas Anderson addressed the DiCaprio rumor and explained how Bradley Cooper actually came to be cast as Jon Peters in the new film, “Licorice Pizza.”

READ MORE: ‘Nightmare Alley’: Leonardo DiCaprio & Jennifer Lawrence Reportedly Almost Took The Leads In Guillermo Del Toro’s Noir Film

“I never talked to Leo,” said Anderson. “I had known Bradley a bit and had been anxious to work with him, but I didn’t create the scenario thinking it was a way to work with Bradley Cooper. The scenario was created from fact. Gary [Goetzman] and his buddies delivered a waterbed for Jon Peters, who had a reputation for being a larger-than-life, outsized Hollywood movie producer. The story goes that nothing dramatic happened at all. He was the nicest guy in the whole world.”

The filmmaker realized that having a scene like that where nothing of note happened would be “boring.” So, instead, the filmmaker created a fictional “batshit crazy” interaction between Cooper’s version of Jon Peters and the rest of the cast.

So, it appears that DiCaprio was never actually in discussions for “Licorice Pizza” and it was always going to be Bradley Cooper. Interestingly, the two actors would actually have their names cross paths in another way with Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley,” where DiCaprio was actually attached to star in the film but left the project, and he was soon replaced by Cooper.

“Licorice Pizza” is in theaters now.