Why Shah Rukh Khan’s Reluctance To Play Second Fiddle To Leonardo DiCaprio Ended "Xtreme City"

Paul Schrader Explains The Project’s Breakdown And What Could Have Been

Acclaimed director Paul Schrader recently opened up about the collapse of Xtreme City, a Hollywood-Bollywood crossover that was set to feature Shah Rukh Khan and Leonardo DiCaprio.

During a podcast interview on Pod Casty for Me, Schrader detailed how Khan’s unwillingness to play a subordinate role ultimately led to the project’s demise.

The film was conceptualized at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival, where Schrader, Khan, and DiCaprio met alongside Martin Scorsese, who was attached as the executive producer.

The plot would have featured Khan as a gangster and DiCaprio as an American cop who saves him in India. The unique premise held promise, but issues soon arose.

Schrader explained that Khan was reluctant to play “second banana” to DiCaprio, a dynamic unfamiliar to him. As Schrader noted, “Shah Rukh is the boss. He hires multple directors for different scenes. he’ll hire someone for the musical number; he’ll hire somebody else for the action; he’ll hire somebody else for the personal-relationship scenes. He can do that.” The Bollywood superstar, accustomed to leading roles and having creative control, found the prospect of being directed by an auteur and playing a secondary part uncomfortable.

Khan’s enthusiasm for the project waned, shifting from a firm commitment to a tentative one. Consequently, DiCaprio’s commitment also faltered. Schrader remarked, “Once his commitment went from ‘firm’ to ‘provisional,’ Leo’s went from ‘firm’ to ‘provisional.’ Now you have two ‘provisional’ commitments, which means you have no commitment at all.”

This breakdown reflects not only the clash of Hollywood and Bollywood working cultures but also the challenge of balancing star power on an international project. Though Xtreme City never materialized, it remains an intriguing “what if” in the history of global cinema.

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Source: Times Of India

Photo Credit: Getty Images