Fans of Matt Damon may not like it much but the fact is that Leonardo Dicaprio was the original choice for the lead role in The Good Shepherd. Actor-Director Robert De Niro wanted the Titanic star to play the lead but due to dates problem Dicaprio had to be dropped and be replaced by Matt Damon.
De Niro had everything in place and had to start the shooting with Damon instead of Dicaprio.
De Niro when approached explained it thus:
Leonardo DiCaprio was originally going to do it, but he had schedule problems and it got so complicated… I said I had to move on quickly because I had all the machinery of the movie moving forward.
Well, so DiCaprio’s loss was Damon’s gain. If the movie turns out to be a mega-gainer, DiCaprio may regret not having worked hard enough to resolve the date problems.
