PremiumShah Rukh Khan almost played a Gangster in a Martin Scorsese movie opposite Leonardo DiCaprio - Did you know?
Shah Rukh Khan Almost Starred In A Martin Scorsese Film With Leonardo DiCaprio
Last Updated: 03.38 PM, Dec 05, 2024
There are always fascinating stories about the movies that didn’t happen. For years, the big Hollywood dream has been something every actor in Hindi cinema has aspired to, and the route is now much more streamlined than it was before. One star often attached to such rumors is Shah Rukh Khan, who, surprisingly, has never worked in a Hollywood movie to date. But does that mean no offers have come his way? Clearly not. While there are many stories about iconic movies, did you know Martin Scorsese once had Shah Rukh Khan in mind to play a gangster in a film called Xtreme City, with Leonardo DiCaprio opposite him? They even held meetings to make it happen.
Shah Rukh Khan Was Offered a Film by Martin Scorsese
As we continue to obsess over Shah Rukh Khan, it becomes increasingly evident that King Khan’s stardom is a phenomenon the world not only loves but also covets. Among the many filmmakers who wish to work with him, the legendary Martin Scorsese stands out, as confirmed by renowned filmmaker Paul Schrader. Schrader revealed that Martin was in talks with Shah Rukh Khan for a movie he was set to produce. The two even met in Berlin to discuss the project, but ultimately, nothing materialized.
During the Pod Casty For Me podcast, Paul Schrader spoke about the time Shah Rukh Khan was discussing Xtreme City with Martin Scorsese. In the film, Shah Rukh was to play a gangster, while Leonardo DiCaprio would play an American police officer. Schrader highlighted how Shah Rukh Khan’s approach to filmmaking made this collaboration challenging.
Paul said, “Shah Rukh is the boss. He hires directors. Sometimes he hires multiple directors: he’ll hire somebody for the musical number; he’ll hire somebody else for the action; he’ll hire somebody else for the personal-relationship scenes. He can do that. He has never really worked under the harness of an auteur, and that, I could see, was starting to grate on him. And he had never done a film in the West before, and he had never been a second banana to somebody like Leo before.”
The Plot of the Shah Rukh Khan vs. Leonardo DiCaprio Film
Paul Schrader also revealed the storyline of the shelved movie. It would have featured Shah Rukh Khan as a gangster who saves an American police officer, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, in India. The story then revolves around the clash between the two. Schrader elaborated, “Bit by bit, I wrote the script. I went to Mumbai several times to see him and be with him—I could feel the ground slowly eroding underneath him. So finally, his commitment was provisional, and then once his commitment went from ‘firm’ to ‘provisional,’ Leo’s went from ‘firm’ to ‘provisional.’ Now you have two ‘provisional’ commitments, which means you have no commitment at all.”
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