Considered to be among Hollywood's most popular actors, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio have achieved the skyrocketing success that is evident in the form of all the accolades they have garnered so far. Surprisingly, they have turned down some iconic lead roles including one in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain.

Actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt were offered lead roles in 2005 romantic, drama Brokeback Mountain, but the two mega Hollywood stars turned down the offer. It is no secret that DiCaprio and Pitt are the most popular and successful stars in Hollywood and well-known faces across the globe, considering the distinctive honors and awards they have held in over two decades of their respective careers.

These two handsome hunks collaborated on the latest project dubbed, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood that was helmed by Quentin Tarantino. This latest project was released in 2019 that gathered various awards and nominations along with being a huge success even on the production front. The movie listed in "Top 10 Movies" of the year in 2019.

DiCaprio and Pitt found their partnership on-screen as well as off-screen being fun and in a statement, they mentioned it as a pleasant experience to work together. Apart from having great fun together while working, both actors have commendations and praises for each other which makes their chemistry even better for the fans.

While Pitt called Leonardo a great relief to work with knowing that you have best of best, Leonardo also returned the compliment and called Pitt a terrific and professional actor as it was “incredibly easy working with Brad”.

However, the collaboration between these two versatile actors would have taken place earlier if they had not turned down some groundbreaking roles in 2005. According to CheatSheet, both these actors had refused the lead roles offered to them for the movie Brokeback Mountain.

Although it’s not clear in the reports which role were turned down by which actor but in a statement, Gus Van Sant, the director of the film said that “nobody wanted to do it.” Sant also revealed that apart from these two actors, he also offered the other "usual suspects." The names included Ryan Phillipe and Matt Damon as per the reports, even these actors refused to accept the roles.

Undoubtedly, Brokeback Mountain turned out to be the “most successful films of all time”, which paid off all the challenges faced by the director since the beginning of the film. It was regrettable that so many actors including Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt refusing such great roles that later became legendary.

The roles were played by actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. Gyllenhaal and Ledger later won awards in Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor categories, respectively.