Leonardo DiCaprio's talent was clear to most by the time he was cast in 2002’s “Gangs of New York,” but Robert De Niro had alerted Martin Scorsese of his potential 10 years prior.

De Niro and DiCaprio had starred together in 1993’s “This Boy's Life,” and De Niro was so taken with DiCaprio’s performance that he implored Scorsese to hire the young actor.

Scorsese recalled, “[De Niro] said, ‘I'm working with this young boy. You must work with him sometime.’ That was the first time I heard him recommend somebody to me.”

DiCaprio was cast as a lead in “Gangs,” but he looked uneasy in the chaotic sprawl of the film, hampered by a bad Irish accent and upstaged by Daniel Day-Lewis' hammy performance.

DiCaprio still became Scorsese's go-to lead actor in four more films before 2023’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” where he reunited with De Niro for the first time since “Boy’s.”