Leonardo DiCaprio Tells Kate Winslet She’s ‘One of the Great Talents of My Generation’ in Emotional Reunion; Winslet Replies: ‘I Can’t Even Look at Leo Now or I’ll Cry’

Longtime friends and iconic “Titanic” co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet reunited on Nov. 19 at the Harmony Gold theater in Los Angeles (via People) for a special screening of Winslet’s “Lee,” which opened in theaters earlier this fall. DiCaprio introduced Winslet by calling her “one of the great talents of my generation.” The praise nearly brought Winslet to tears.

“Kate Winslet has dedicated herself to the film and to honoring Lee’s legacy for over the course of nine years,” DiCaprio told the audience. “I remember her speaking about this to me personally. This has been a massive passion project for her, and it’s a journey that speaks to the depth of Kate’s passion and her dedication to telling stories that need to be remembered.”

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“Kate, my dear friend, your work in this film has been nothing short of transformative,” DiCaprio continued. “I continue to be awestruck. I continue to admire your strength, your integrity, your talent, and your passion to every single project that you create. So without further ado, one of the great talents of my generation, the one and only Kate Winslet.”

As Winslet took the stage to big applause, she told the crowd: “I can’t even look at Leo now or else I’ll cry.”

Winslet produced and starred in “Lee,” a biographical drama about the American war correspondent and photographer Lee Miller. The actor’s relationship to DiCaprio dates back to James Cameron’s blockbuster “Titanic,” which earned Winslet an Oscar nomination and catapulted her and DiCaprio as global superstars. The film held the record for highest-grossing movie of all time until Cameron’s “Avatar” surpassed it.

Cameron revealed to GQ a few years ago that DiCaprio almost lost out on the movie because of his refusal to do a screen test for the role of Jack. Winslet had already been cast as Rose at the time.

“[Leo] came back a couple of days later, and I had the camera set up to record the video,” Cameron said. “He didn’t know he was going to test. He thought it was another meeting to meet Kate. So I said, ‘Okay, we’ll just go in the next room, and we’ll run some lines and I’ll video it.’ And he said, ‘You mean, I’m reading?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Oh, I don’t read.’ I shook his hand and said, ‘Thanks for coming by.’”

Cameron was ready to turn away DiCaprio right then and there, but the actor came back to him and said, “Wait, wait, wait. If I don’t read, I don’t get the part? Just like that?” Cameron responded, “Oh, yeah. Come on. This is a giant movie that is going to take two years of my life, and you’ll be gone doing five other things while I’m doing post-production. So, I’m not going to fuck it up by making the wrong decision in casting. So, you’re going to read, or you’re not going to get the part.’”

DiCaprio would go on to reunite with Winslet years later in the 2008 drama “Revolutionary Road,” for which Winslet won a Golden Globe award.