James Cameron had to ‘twist’ Leo DiCaprio’s arm for ‘Titanic’

It took James Cameron a while to get Leonardo DiCaprio to board the “Ship of Dreams.”

The “Avatar” director made the revelation Tuesday during the Golden Globes that he had to convince the “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” star to take part in the iconic film, reported People.

“He didn’t want to do a leading man,” recalled the 68-year-old director. “I had to really twist his arm to be in the movie. He didn’t want to do it. He thought it was boring.”

Cameron eventually managed to convince DiCaprio, 48, by saying that it would be “a difficult challenge.”

“It didn’t surprise me, first of all, that he’s made a lot of authentic choices going forward,” said Cameron. “And secondly, I never doubted his talent.”

Despite DiCaprio not initially wanting to take the plunge, “Titanic” has remained the top-grossing film for the last 25 years, which has allowed Cameron to do multiple remastered versions.

Cameron said that he “can’t imagine that film” without DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, who recently worked with him on the latest installment of his “Avatar” franchise.

“I think about that casting Leonardo and Kate in ‘Titanic.’ Leo, the studio didn’t want him; I had to fight for him,” reminisced Cameron. “Kate really liked him.”

“And then Leonardo decided he didn’t want to make the movie. So then I had to talk him into it,” continued Cameron.

According to Cameron, the 1997 drama would have sunk without DiCaprio and Winslet.

“You think at any one of those places,” he said, “if that had really kind of frayed apart, it would have been somebody else and it wouldn’t have been that film.”