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Before Titanic turned Leonardo DiCaprio into a global obsession, he nearly shared the screen with another ‘90s icon-in-the-making: Sarah Michelle Gellar. Yep, Buffy herself almost scored the part of Juliet in Baz Luhrmann’s wild, modern take on Romeo + Juliet. But as fate would have it, one glance sealed the deal for someone else.
Back in 1996, Gellar was still hustling for a film breakthrough. She’d already snagged a Daytime Emmy for her role as Kendall Hart on All My Children, but most of her credits lived on the small screen. Her big screen resume? Pretty slim. A minor role in High Stakes from 1989 and a few near misses, including Clueless.
But Romeo + Juliet? That was the one that stung. She auditioned for Juliet Capulet alongside a loaded list of future stars. Think Jennifer Love Hewitt, Aaliyah, Kate Winslet, Christina Ricci, and Natalie Portman. The studio passed on Portman for being too young. And Sarah Michelle Gellar? She came close, but Claire Danes clinched the role thanks to one simple move.
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According to Grazia, Claire Danes landed the part because she made eye contact with Leonardo DiCaprio during her audition. That’s it. That one moment gave her the edge, and she stepped into the iconic balcony scene while Gellar watched from the wings of what could’ve been. Not that she stayed sidelined for long.
The next year, she went full scream queen with I Know What You Did Last Summer, alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt. That hit theaters just months after Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered and officially launched Sarah Michelle Gellar into superstardom. Horror fans couldn’t get enough, and neither could casting directors.
She rolled into Scream 2, stirred things up in Cruel Intentions, and kept things playful with Scooby-Doo. By the early 2000s, Gellar was headlining box office hits like The Grudge—and Juliet Capulet? A distant “what-if.” Even though she missed her DiCaprio moment, Gellar carved out her own legacy. She became a genre icon, a teen queen, and a pop culture staple without ever needing to stand on a Shakespearean balcony.
In recent years, she has shifted gears. In 2021, she voiced Teela in Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation and popped up on Star Wars Rebels alongside husband Freddie Prinze Jr. Her focus has moved from red carpets to raising a family, building businesses, and choosing her projects carefully.
Still, the fact that she nearly starred in one of the most stylized Shakespeare films of all time remains one of the juiciest what-could’ve-beens in ‘90s Hollywood lore. So, yes, Sarah Michelle Gellar almost stood across from Leonardo DiCaprio, trading Shakespearean lines in a church full of candles and chaos. But she blinked, Claire Danes locked eyes, and the rest was history.
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