Paul Rudd Downplays Rumor He Was in the Mix for 'Titanic' and Told Leonardo DiCaprio to Take the Role (Video)

What started as a rumor that Paul Rudd convinced or coached Leonardo DiCaprio to star in “Titanic” has spiraled even further into the belief that Rudd himself was actually in the mix to play Leo’s lead role.

Rudd dispelled that rumor and downplayed the idea that he had anything to do with DiCaprio starring in James Cameron’s blockbuster in a new podcast interview with The Ringer.

“No, no that’s not true. I was never in the running. I just had a real interest in it because my father was a Titanic expert,” Rudd said on “10 Questions With With Kyle Brandt.” “That was how he made his living. Talking about the Titanic. So when they announced they were making this film I really wanted to get in on it for my dad. But no we were not in the running.”

Also Read: Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd Comedy Series 'The Shrink Next Door' Heads to Apple TV+

Rudd has addressed this rumor before, explaining to Graham Norton that both he and DiCaprio were filming “Romeo + Juliet” when DiCaprio told him he’d been offered the part for “Titanic” and was unsure about doing a big studio movie. Rudd elaborated on that story in the new podcast.

“And then there was a moment in time where it was my last day of shooting where we were all going out and I was in a car with him. And there was a story that came out that said I was the one who talked him into doing the movie. That’s not true at all,” Rudd said. “But he had been offered the movie and we were talking about it in the car and I said ‘That would be amazing! How cool!’ And so it was one of those moments where I look back and think wow this is a real Forrest Gump kind of moment. How did I wind up in this spot? And you kind of look back and think that was an interesting thing. I was in a car with Leo talking about Titanic but they hadn’t shot it yet. And he hadn’t even signed on to do it yet.”

Probably the crazier “Titanic” rumor is that Matthew McConaughey was offered the lead role in “Titanic” but then turned it down, another story that has spun out of control despite the number of times both Cameron and McConaughey have been asked about it. Cameron set the record straight about that story last year.

Elsewhere in the interview, Rudd talked about his favorite quote from “Anchorman” being Will Ferrell saying “Milk was a bad choice” and explained how his line “Slapping the bass” from “I Love You, Man” has made him the scourge of bass players for years.

Check out the full interview via The Ringer.

23 Actors Who Have Played Twins, From Lindsay Lohan to Mark Ruffalo (Photos)

It must not be an easy feat to play your own twin, but a surprising amount of actors have done it. From Lindsay Lohan in "The Parent Trap" to Paul Rudd in Netflix's "Living With Yourself" to Mark Ruffalo in HBO's series "I Know This Much Is True" here are 22 stars who have played their own twins, clones, and even split-personalities on TV and in movies.
Netflix
Bette Davis - "Dead Ringer" (1964)

Davis plays twins Margaret DeLorca and Edith Phillips in this 1964 thriller. Both sisters are in love with the same man, and they'll go to crazy lengths to sabotage each other.
YouTube
Jeremy Irons - "Dead Ringers" (1988)

In this 1988 thriller, Irons plays identical twin gynecologists Elliot and Beverly Mantle.
YouTube
Lily Tomlin and Bette Midler - "Big Business" (1988)

Tomlin and Midler play two sets of identical twins who are separated at birth and swapped, so they grew up believing they're actually fraternal twins from different families. To make it even more confusing, both sets of twins have the same names.
YouTube
Jackie Chan - "Twin Dragons" (1992)

Chan plans twins who were separated at birth in this 1992 action-comedy.
YouTube
Lisa Kudrow - "Friends" (1994-2004)

In order to explain why Kudrow had a role on both "Friends" and "Mad About You," which aired back-t0-back on Thursday nights, they did a little crossover in which they had Kudrow's character Ursula the waitress from "Mad About You" come on "Friends" as Phoebe's twin sister.
0NBC
Micheal Keaton - "Multiplicity" (1996)

Doug decides to clone himself not once but four times in order to get more things done between his job and his family life.
YouTube
Lindsay Lohan - "The Parent Trap," (1998) "I Know Who Killed Me" (2007)

Pretty much everyone is familiar with Lohan's iconic role in 'The Parent Trap' remake, but few are familiar with her much more grown-up, darker role in this 2007 psychological thriller in which her she plays two very different versions of a girl named Aubrey Fleming.
Disney
Leonardo DiCaprio - "The Man in the Iron Mask" (1998)

Leo plays both King Louis XIV and his villainous brother, Philippe, in this 1998 film based on the story of "The Three Muskateers."
YouTube
Jim Carrey - "Me, Myself and Irene" (2000)

Okay, so this isn't exactly a by-the-book twin situation, but it's like he has an evil twin in the same body. Charlie suppressed his anger for so many years that he develops advanced delusionary schizophrenia with involuntary narcissistic rage... A.K.A., his alternate personality, Hank.
Netflix
Nicolas Cage - "Adaptation" (2002)

Cage stars opposite himself -- and Meryl Streep -- in this 2002 Spike Jonze film about a struggling screenwriter and his freeloading twin brother.
YouTube
Christian Bale - "The Prestige" (2006)

Bale plays a magician with a big secret. Spoiler alert: Bale's character is actually just pretending to be a master magician when really his twin brother is helping pull off the tricks behind the scenes.
YouTube
Edward Norton - "Leaves of Grass" (2009)

Norton plays twins Brady and Bill in this 2009 comedy. Bill, believing Brady is dead, goes to Oklahoma -- only to get roped into Brady's drug-dealing scheme.
YouTube
Armie Hammer - "The Social Network" (2010)

Who could forget Hammer's turn as another pair of real-life twins? He played both Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, A.K.A. "The Winklevii," in this 2010 drama starring Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
YouTube
Adam Sandler - "Jack and Jill" (2011)

The comedian dressed up as the female version of himself for this 2011 comedy about a twin sister who comes to stay with her brother's family.
Columbia Pictures
Tatiana Maslany - "Orphan Black" (2013-17)

Maslany plays several different clones in this BBC America series, including Alison Hendricks, Sarah Manning, and Helena.
BBC America
Tom Hardy - "Legend" (2015)

Hardy plays a pair of famous, real-life English gangster twins, Reggie and Ronnie Kray, in this 2015 crime drama.
YouTube
James McAvoy - "Split" (2016)

Ok, so not exactly twins, but McAvoy plays Kevin -- and all 23 of his wildly different and terrifying personalities -- in this 2017 horror thriller.
Blumhouse
JK Simmons - "Counterpart" (2017-19)

Simmons plays both versions of Howard Silk from alternate realities in this spy series from Starz, which was tragically canceled after just two seasons.
Starz
Blake Lively - "A Simple Favor" (2018)

Spoiler alert: In this 2018 dark comedic thriller, Lively's character kills her twin sister by drowning her in a lake.
YouTube
James Marsden - "Dead to Me" (2019-)

Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen Season 2: Steve has an identical twin named Ben. And he's way nicer -- and way dorkier -- than Steve. But lucky for Marsden, he never has do scenes where both twins are in the same room because Steve is, you know... dead.
Netflix
Paul Rudd - "Living With Yourself" (2019-)

When Rudd's character accidentally gets himself cloned, he decides to let the other version of himself do the heavy lifting in their shared life. Everything is fine until his wife, and pretty much everyone else in his life, starts liking his clone more than the real him.
Netflix
Mark Ruffalo - "I Know This Much Is True" (2020)

He plays twins Dominick and Thomas Birdsey in the HBO series, the latter of whom is schizophrenic.
HBO

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Plus Paul Rudd, JK Simmons, Edward Norton, and many more

It must not be an easy feat to play your own twin, but a surprising amount of actors have done it. From Lindsay Lohan in "The Parent Trap" to Paul Rudd in Netflix's "Living With Yourself" to Mark Ruffalo in HBO's series "I Know This Much Is True" here are 22 stars who have played their own twins, clones, and even split-personalities on TV and in movies.

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23 Actors Who Have Played Twins, From Lindsay Lohan to Mark Ruffalo (Photos)

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