What’s Eating Gilbert Grape helped launch Leonardo DiCaprio’s career and snagged him his first Oscar nod. What it didn’t have? Corey Feldman — and according to him, that’s Johnny Depp’s fault.
During the Wednesday, March 26 episode of The Magnificent Others podcast, the 53-year-old Goonies star claimed he was originally cast as Arnie, the role that went to DiCaprio, 50.
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“I never saw the film because I’m still bitter,” Feldman told host Billy Corgan. “But yes, I was originally cast for that role.”
When asked if he was pushed out, the Gremlins actor didn’t hold back.
“Johnny Depp,” Feldman said. “He was cast after I was, and apparently whispered into the producers’ ear that he wasn’t fond of me.”
Feldman went on to explain that Depp, now 61, allegedly told producers he didn’t want to work with him, claiming Feldman was a “junkie and that he didn’t work with junkies.”
But according to the Corey’s Angels founder, that wasn’t true.
“I was sober. I had just gotten sober — I had just gotten out of rehab. I had turned my life around,” Feldman told Corgan, 58, adding that he was actually trying to help River Phoenix at the time — “who [Depp] was running with,” he claimed.
“As we all know, River’s last night on Earth was at Johnny’s establishment,” Feldman continued. “So, as you can imagine, there was a bit of a thorn in the side on that one.”
(River died on October 31, 1993, after collapsing outside The Viper Room — a nightclub co-owned by Depp — from a drug overdose. He was 23.)
As for losing the role, Feldman said, “Had I not been pushed out and done that role, who knows what would have happened from that point forward.”
The “Ascension Millennium” singer added that he later auditioned for both Titanic and The Lord of the Rings, but lost those roles to DiCaprio and former Goonies costar Sean Astin, respectively. “There was a bitter tea there,” Feldman admitted. “That said, you don’t hang on those, you get past ’em.”
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