Mark Wahlberg Was a Dick to Leonardo DiCaprio

Who knew Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio hated each other? I didn’t, but they did for a long time. Apparently this has been going on since 1995 when Mark got a part in The Basketball Diaries because Leo didn’t take him seriously as an actor or something. Don’t worry, though – they’re pals now!

From The Hollywood Reporter:

He started to dream big, but others found his aspirations laughable — not least Leonardo DiCaprio, who was openly hostile when it was suggested Wahlberg should appear opposite him in the 1995 drama The Basketball Diaries. “Leonardo was like, ‘Over my dead f—ing body. Marky Mark’s not going to be in this f—ing movie,’ ” says Wahlberg. “Because we’d had a thing — I didn’t even realize it, [but] I was a bit of a dick to him at a charity basketball game. So he was like, ‘This f—ing asshole is not going to be in this movie.’ ”

Thanks to the perseverance of casting director Avy Kaufman, DiCaprio reluctantly agreed to read with Wahlberg. “So I come in and I do the audition and I kind of look at him and he kind of looks at me, and then we do a scene, and they’re like, ‘Hmm, this f—ing dude’s pretty good, right?’ ” Wahlberg says, laughing. “The next thing you know, boom, we’re hanging out.”

I don’t mind Mark Wahlberg as an actor. I don’t think he’s anything special, but he’s a damn sight better at making movies than he was at making music. Also, I can totally see these two butting heads. Leo takes himself seriously as an actor and Mark just doesn’t seem to give a fuck, so that’s kind of a recipe for disaster.