Hocus Pocus director Kenny Ortega has explained how Leonardo DiCaprio almost starred in the Halloween classic.
DiCaprio has previously spoken about how he didn't do Hocus Pocus, choosing instead to star in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, but we now know that even though he auditioned, Ortega was told that DiCaprio probably wouldn't be starring in the movie.
"The [casting] ladies called me up and they said, 'We're sending you an actor today but he's not available but you're going to fall in love with him but you can't have him'," Ortega told EW.
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It turns out that DiCaprio was already up for two other movies at the time, but the casting agents wanted Ortega to meet him to inspire the director about who to choose for Max, with the role eventually going to Omri Katz.
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'Obviously, [Leo] left and incredible things happened for that young man and to this day, but meeting him awakened me to the kind of spirit and fun and sincerity that I was looking for in an actor and when Omri Katz came around, I fell in love again and he was our Max,' he added.
Earlier this month, Hocus Pocus writer Mick Garris revealed that the original version of the movie was very different and called Halloween House instead.
'What I had written originally was about 12-year-olds. The kids being younger and in more jeopardy was certainly something more explicitly frightening,' he outlined, adding that the movie became more 'broadly comedic.'
Last month, we all got a bit excited about the prospect of a Hocus Pocus 2 finally happening, before it was confirmed that it would be a TV remake.
(via Digital Spy)
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