Leonardo DiCaprio knew the Star Wars prequels were going to stink

Leonardo DiCapriohas been searching pretty hard for an Oscar for years now, and now we knowhe figured out a while ago that he wouldn’t find one doing big-budget blockbusters. In fact, as DiCaprio divulges in an interview with ShortList, he turned down offers to play Anakin Skywalker in the “Star Wars” prequels, Robin in Joel Schumacher’s ’90s Batman sequels and Spider-Man — a role the ended up going to his buddy Tobey Maguire.

“As I recall I took the meeting, but didn’t want to take the roll,” DiCapriosays of Schumacher’s offer to play Robin. “I don’t think I was ready for anything like that.” For the other roles, he says his decisions to pass on the offer came from a combination of insecurity in his abilities and notbeing interested in acting in thosekinds of films. But he’s not ruling out popcorn fare in the future.”They’re getting better and better as far as complex characters in these movies,” he says. “I don’t rule anything out.”

And to hear Hayden Christensen tell it, DiCaprio might have made a great choice, as the actor who did go on to play young Anakin Skywalker says the sudden attention that came withwinning the role made him feel like a fraud and drove him to eventually take a break from Hollywood.“I felt like I had this great thing in Star Wars that provided all these opportunities and gave me a career, but it all kind of felt a little too handed to me,” Christensenthe L.A. Times. “I didn’t want to go through life feeling like I was just riding a wave.”

Follow Ned Ehrbar on Twitter: @nedrick