Ethan Hawke<\/strong> could have been \u201cking of the world!\u201d<\/p>\n The actor recently looked back on his audition for the 1997\u2019s Titanic<\/em> \u2014 and admitted he\u2019s glad he lost the part of Jack Dawson to Leonardo DiCaprio<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I would have handled that success as well as Leo,\u201d Hawke told GQ<\/em><\/a> in an interview published on Monday, September 1.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a f***ing Beatle.\u201d<\/p>\n Hawke, 54, was fresh off the success of 1994\u2019s Reality Bites<\/em> when he screen-tested with Kate Winslet<\/strong>. \u201cThat was the moment that went from me being an actor to people knowing my name,\u201d he recalled. \u201c\u2018Oh, he\u2019s one of those Dead Poets<\/em> guys\u2019 turned into \u2018Oh, he\u2019s him.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n But he never coveted DiCaprio\u2019s level of superstardom. \u201cI never self-identified as a \u2018movie star.\u2019 I was allergic to that,\u201d he told the outlet. \u201cHaving a trademark by my name and making a million dollars \u2013 that wasn\u2019t part of my dream. Some people\u2019s initial north star is to be fucking rich and have an airplane. I was super interested in the people who made a real contribution to the arts.\u201d<\/p>\n So while Winslet, 49, and DiCaprio, 50, were busy filming the blockbuster, Hawke began work on the sci-fi thriller Gattaca<\/em> \u2014 where he fell in love with his future wife, Uma Thurman<\/strong>. (The pair were wed in 1998 and divorced amid a \u201chumiliating\u201d swirl of publicity, Hawke told GQ<\/em>.)<\/p>\n The Black Phone<\/em> star wasn\u2019t the only one to lose out to DiCaprio: Matthew McConaughey<\/strong><\/a> and Jeremy Sisto<\/strong> also screen-tested with Winslet, while Jared Leto<\/strong> reportedly refused to do so.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/staging.starmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/dpphotos066439-e1756831440943.jpg\")