Eric Braeden almost turned down starring in one of the biggest and most successful movies ever made.
The 85-year-old star of The Young and the Restless starred in Titanic (1997) as the richest man on the ship, John Jacob Astor IV, but during a new episode of the Still Here Hollywood podcast he revealed that he initially had no interest in the role.
“I didn’t want to do it. I said, ‘I don’t give a s–t about James Cameron. I don’t know him,” Eric recalled during the episode, per Entertainment Weekly.
It was his son, Christian Gudegast, that pushed him to try to get a part in the movie because working with Cameron would be beneficial. These days, Christian is an accomplish filmmaker, too, having written and directed two Den of Thieves movies.
Eric shared that he did eventually meet an “arrogant” casting director who kept him waiting.
“I said, ‘I just asked myself the same question,’” he said, eventually walking out. “I called the agency, ‘Don’t ever, ever, ever send me to some bulls??t like that again.’”
Fast-forward a month later and Cameron got in touch. Once Eric read about the real man he’d be playing, he started to get more interest and returned for a casting call.
“It was totally unnecessary to do this [because] James Cameron was a big fan of Colossus,” Eric added, referring to his 1970 sci-fi thriller.
In the end, Eric said he is glad he did the movie because he has “enormous respect for James Cameron.”
“If I’ve ever met a person who I would call a genius without any hesitation, he is that person,” he concluded.
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