Ethan Hawke reacts to losing ‘Titanic’ role to Leonardo DiCaprio

Not the king of the world.

Ethan Hawke may have sunk his “Titanic” audition, but he’s not icy about Leonardo DiCaprio scoring the famous role of Jack Dawson.

In 1997, DiCaprio, 50, portrayed Jack alongside Kate Winslet’s Rose DeWitt Bukater in James Cameron’s historical film, “Titanic.” A part that Hawke, 54, was originally up for.

“I don’t think I would have handled that success as well as Leo,” the actor told “British GQ” on Monday. “He was a f—ing Beatle.”

At the time, “Titanic” took home an Oscar for Best Picture.

Starring in the romantic movie also paved the way for DiCaprio to star in “Catch Me If You Can” in 2002, “The Aviator” in 2004 and 2006’s “Blood Diamond.”

The actor was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for the thriller “Blood Diamond.”

In 2016, DiCaprio took home his first Best Actor trophy with the “Revenant” — after four previous acting snubs.

When “Titanic” hit theaters 28 years ago, DiCaprio, who was only 23 at the time, explained why he was hesitant to join the project.

“I did have a lot of reservations about doing something commercial to this scale,” he explained in an interview with WFAA in 1997. “They’ve always sort of been, in my opinion, big, epic blockbusters and they lack a lot of content. They weren’t very character driven and that’s a stereotype, of course. So, I had a lot of reservations about doing the picture initially.”

However, things soon changed DiCaprio’s mind.

“When I actually read the script,” he recalled, “and met with James and Kate, I realized it had a lot of important themes and was an immensely interesting story.”

At the height of “Titanic’s” success, Hawke had already made a name for himself thanks to 1989’s “Dead Poets Society,” 1994’s “Reality Bites,” and 1995’s “Before Sunrise.”

Hawke earned his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the 2001 crime drama “Training Day.”

Despite not taking home the gold, the actor recalled his costar Denzel Washington whispering some very important words to him.

 Hawke recalled Washington, 70, saying: “It’s better that you didn’t win. Losing was better.”

“You don’t want an award to improve your status,” Hawke continued telling Chris Wallace while on “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” in 2024. “You want to improve the award’s status.”

“The Academy Award has more power 1756831435 ’cause Denzel has a couple. It didn’t elevate who he was,” Hawke continued.

The “Great Expectations” vet lost the Oscar to Jim Broadbent for his role in “Iris.”

“I was at the Oscars sitting next to Denzel Washington and nominated against Ian McKellen,” Hawke noted. “I had already won. It was impossible for me not to see it any other way.”

Now, decades later, Hawke’s kids Levon, 23, and Maya, 27, whom he shares with ex-wife Uma Thurman, have both followed in their footsteps.

“Anybody that knows Maya knows that she’s a force,” Ethan told People of his daughter in 2024. “She always has been. She writes and performs her own music and she loves acting and she loves painting and she’s kind of an artistic animal.”

“I think it was a thrill for us to collaborate with all the people in the production. So many people were so gifted around us and it was just fun to be in a band together,” he said about working on her film “Wildcat” together.