At one time, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was in talks with Hollywood icon Leonardo DiCaprio and renowned director Martin Scorsese about a film titled Extreme City. However, the project was eventually abandoned. Director Paul Schrader has now shared the reason for its cancellation and revealed that Shah Rukh Khan was supposed to have an important role in the film, but he changed his mind midway and the film got shelved.
During an appearance on the Pod Caste for Me podcast, Paul Schrader reflected on the film that never came to fruition. He shared that at one point, he, Martin Scorsese and Shah Rukh Khan were all interested in the project and even met in Berlin to discuss it.
Martin was supposed to produce the film, but Schrader revealed that Shah Rukh ultimately lost interest midway through the process.
Paul Schrader explained that the young actor is an important figure in the industry, often playing the role of hiring directors for various aspects of the film, such as musical numbers, action scenes or personal relationship scenes.
Schrader said that Shahrukh had never worked under a director with a distinctly auteur style, and he could sense that it was becoming challenging for him. He also pointed out that Shahrukh had never worked in the West before or played a supporting role to someone like Leonardo DiCaprio.
Regarding the plot, Paul revealed that Shah Rukh was to play a gangster who is encountered by an American police officer (played by Leonardo) in India after he is rescued by him.
Paul mentioned that as he continued writing the script, he went to Mumbai several times to meet Shahrukh, but felt that the actor’s commitment was gradually waning.
Once Shahrukh’s commitment became tentative, Leonardo’s commitment followed suit, and the project was abandoned without any concrete commitment.
In an interview with Open in 2013, Paul discussed his brief interest in working on a Bollywood-inspired project. He shared that after attending a film festival in Delhi and meeting people who proposed a cross-cultural film, he became intrigued by the idea of merging an international film with Bollywood elements, which he described as an exciting , viewed as an unknown concept.
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