$2 Billion Movie Gwyneth Paltrow Turned Down for a Film No One Remembers
Here's what the actress herself said about it.
A lot of famous actors have rejected opportunities to star in films that turned out to be box-office hits, sometimes due to creative differences, and sometimes thanks to simply miscalculating which film among the options available to them would be more successful.
And one of them was Gwyneth Paltrow, who passed on the role in Titanic that eventually went to Kate Winslet.
While Winslet went to great lengths to make her chance to play Rose into reality, Paltrow, as far as the rumor goes (James Cameron himself does not confirm or deny any information about actors who might have refused to star in his projects) was just not particularly interested in that project, which, albeit big, did not seem to be a surefire hit at the time of its filming.
Instead, she chose to play Estella in Alfonso Cuaron's Great Expectations (1998), yet another adaptation of the famous Dickens' novel.
However, while Great Expectations, one of Cuaron's early works, had an impressive cast, including Gwyneth, it was not very lavishly funded, and ended up not very successful, earning only $55.5 million at the box office, and considering its budget of $25 million plus theatres' cut, that means it just barely earned money – a far cry from Titanic's tremendous success.
Critical response has been largely negative as well, and by now hardly anyone remembers about its existence. Even Cuaron himself later called it "a complete failed film."
However, Gwyneth Paltrow refused to let herself regret that choice.
As she said in an interview later, "Are you insane? Great Expectations and Sliding Doors had great characters and great stories. Titanic had a ship."
"I look back at the choices I've made and think, 'Why the hell did I say yes to that? And no to that?'" she also said. "And you know, you look at the big picture and think: There's a universal lesson here. What good is it to hold onto roles?"
Curiously, Gwyneth's co-star in Great Expectations, Ethan Hawke, also was a candidate, auditioning for the lead role in Titanic. Unlike her, he really wanted to get that role, but in the end lost to Leonardo DiCaprio.