Leonardo DiCaprio, now one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, is best known for his portrayal of Jack Dawson in the 1997 movie Titanic. Despite his glittering career, he faced different circumstances during the early days of his career.
His involvement in "Critters 3," a huge failure, nearly marked the end of his career, according to some critics. The movie got negative reviews and viewers felt disappointed to see it. However, this unexpected setback contrasts with his current success.
It's a reminder that even accomplished people face challenges on their journey to fame.
Director Stephen Harek took a risk and gave The Critters Franchise life
Source: New Line Home Video
Stephen Harek explained why he gave a chance to the script.
Film producer Rupert Harvey revealed, “Stephen, to his credit, even though he had no leverage other than a script we wanted to make, absolutely insisted that nobody would direct it but him and if he didn’t it wouldn’t get made,”
“He stuck to his guns and there was never any shift in that position on Brian’s side. I had to convince Bob on several occasions to go ahead with us and, even during production, to actually stick with Steve. But we were all very glad that he did.”
Source: New Line Home Video
The first Critters film was released in 1986 with a 2-million-dollar budget. The movie brought a profit of $13.2 million at the box office and gained a 6.1 rating from the likes of IMDb. However, the quality of the following movies dipped and that was seen clearly in the third installment where Leonardo DiCaprio joined.
Leonardo DiCaprio Called Critters 3 His Worst Film
Source: New Line Home Video
The horror and sci-fi film Critters 3, where the actor took on the role of Josh, received underwhelming reviews, getting a 0% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Despite his worst movie, he learned valuable lesson from experience. He said, “[Critters 3 is] possibly one of the worst films of all time. I guess it was a good example to look back and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Rolling Stone agrees that this was Leo’s worst movie. However, after all, it isn’t too bad. Though the film could destroy his career early, it served as an experience. It made him realize what not to look for in a movie.
Leonardo DiCaprio also has career regrets, one of which involves the scarcity of projects he undertook after Titanic.
Source: Paramount Pictures
These days, Leonardo DiCaprio gets the best scripts in Hollywood. Despite his success, he has some regrets. After the hit of Titanic, he didn’t take on more roles.
He shared, “I probably should have done more movies during that time period. I took a solid break. I didn't even understand what a hit was, you know? That movie came out and people were like, ‘This movie is doing amazingly well!’ and I'm like, ‘Good, that's great!’”
Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images
On the other side, it turned out to be a positive for Leo that he could control his career and select roles he really liked to play. This holds true today and not many actors can do like him. Choosing projects by himself added to his brilliant career.