Leonardo DiCaprio will never forget where he was when Paul Thomas Anderson pitched him this iconic movie role

Once upon a time in Hollywood, Paul Thomas Anderson offered Leonardo DiCaprio the role of a lifetime.On Wednesday, the actor, 51, shared the moment he learned about the 1997 film “Boogie Nights.”At Time magazine’s “A Year in Time” event, per The Hollywood Reporter, DiCaprio recounted “meeting Paul very early on in my career, when I was about to go do ‘Titanic,’ but we were talking about doing ‘Boogie Nights.'” “I was in my mother’s living room, and I’ll never forget,” shared the Oscar winner, “I was on the couch and he brought a LaserDisc of ‘Raging Bull’ and a video cassette of pornography.And he said, ‘I want to do the ‘Raging Bull’ of pornography.'”DiCaprio was only in his early 20’s and had starred in “This Boy’s Life” and “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” (1993), and 1996’s “Romeo + Juliet” and “Marvin’s Room.”At the time, the “Wolf of Wall Street” star confided in his close pal Martin Scorsese about the idea of doing “Boogie Nights.” The filmmaker, 83, directed “Raging Bull” (1980), which followed the life of boxer Jake LaMotta, played by Robert De Niro.“I thought to myself, ‘Wow, that’s going to be pretty difficult,'” DiCaprio told Scorsese.

“But you’ve been close to him over the years, and there’s so much commonality in the way both of you work.”The “Inception” actor ended up turning down the role of Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler in “Boogie Nights” to play Jack in James Cameron’s “Titanic.” Mark Wahlberg, 54, portrayed the lead in the film about a young busboy who becomes a porn star.The movie was nominated for three Oscars and also starred Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C.Reilly, William H.

Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Heather Graham.“Titanic,” meanwhile, was nominated for 14 Oscars and won 11.Saying no to the role still haunts DiCaprio to this day.

“I’ll say it even though you’re here: My biggest regret is not ...