Corey Feldman blames Johnny Depp for losing out on a big role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Feldman, 53, addressed his bitterness in the Wednesday, March 26, episode of Billy Corgan’s “The Magnificent Others” podcast. The star of the classic ’80s films Stand By Me and The Goonies told Corgan, 58, that he nearly acted opposite Depp, 61, in 1993’s Gilbert Grape.
Feldman would’ve played the disabled younger brother of Depp’s character. But he lost the part to Leonardo DiCaprio, who earned a Best Supporting Oscar nomination for his performance.
“I was actually cast to play Leonardo DiCaprio’s role,” Feldman revealed. “I never saw the film because I’m still bitter. Bitter leaf in that one. But yes, I was originally cast for that role.”
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“Did they push you out?” Corgan asked.
“Johnny Depp,” Feldman responded. “He was cast after I was, and apparently whispered into the producers’ ear that he wasn’t fond of me, and thought — he said that I was a junkie and that he didn’t work with junkies. And this is the first time I’ve ever [told] this story, so I’m sure I’m gonna get hung by this one.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Depp’s rep for comment.
Feldman said that he wasn’t using drugs at the time of his dismissal.
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“I was sober. I had just gotten sober,” he said. “I had just gotten out of rehab. I had turned my life around, and, in fact, was trying to help River [Phoenix] at the time, who [Depp] was running with at the time, as we all know.”
Feldman added, “As you can imagine, there was a bit of a thorn in the side on that one. And, had I not been pushed out and done that role, who knows what would have happened from that point forward.”
Despite the career setback, and the what-if questions that resulted, “you don’t hang on those, you get past ‘em,” he said.
Two years after missing out on Gilbert Grape, Feldman found himself vying with DiCaprio for the role of Jack in Titanic.
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“Ironically, just a couple years later, I also was up for Titanic, so there was kind of a double banger with Leo,” he told Corgan. “But that was OK, because that one I wasn’t as close. I was up for it, I read for it, I know that I was in the contention somewhere.”
Later, Feldman had tried out for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, competing with former Goonies costar Sean Astin to play Samwise Gamgee. Astin, 54, won the part.
“I was actually up for Sean’s role, and I heard I got pretty close on that as well,” he said. “Although I couldn’t have gained the weight, so I’ll give him that. He did a great job aesthetically being able to add that weight. It’s something I cannot physically do.”
