Why SRK and DiCaprio's 'Xtreme City' never happened

Scorsese film fell apart due to commitment issues

At one point, Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan, Hollywood megastar Leonardo DiCaprio, and legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese were poised to collaborate on a cross-cultural Hollywood film titled Xtreme City. According to IndieWire, the crime film, conceived during the 2011 Berlin Film Festival, was to be written by Paul Schrader and Mushtaq Sheikh, with Scorsese attached as an executive producer. The ambitious project ultimately fizzled out - a casualty of creative and logistical challenges, with Shah Rukh's wavering commitment playing a central role.

Schrader recently revisited the story during the Pod Casty for Me podcast, shedding light on the film's unrealised potential. According to him, the trio had shown serious interest in Xtreme City, even meeting in Berlin to discuss it. Scorsese was slated to produce, DiCaprio was tapped to play the American lead, and Shah Rukh was to portray a gangster confronted by DiCaprio's character, an American police officer, after saving his life in India.

However, cracks began to form as Shah Rukh's enthusiasm waned. Schrader described the Bollywood star as a creative powerhouse accustomed to controlling every facet of his projects. "Shah Rukh is the boss. He hires directors - sometimes multiple directors for different aspects of the film," Schrader explained. "He has never really worked under the harness of an auteur… And he had never been a second banana to somebody like Leo before."

Schrader revealed he made multiple trips to Mumbai to meet Shah Rukh, gradually sensing the actor's hesitation. "Bit by bit, I wrote the script. I went to Mumbai several times to see him and be with him - I could feel the ground slowly eroding underneath him. So finally, his commitment was provisional, and then once his commitment went from 'firm' to 'provisional,' Leo's went from 'firm' to 'provisional.' Now you have two 'provisional' commitments, which means you have no commitment at all," Schrader said.

This hesitation wasn't unprecedented. In a 2013 interview with Open, Schrader shared his fascination with creating a Bollywood-Hollywood crossover but acknowledged the challenges of working with Shah Rukh on Xtreme City. "I just got the feeling that he was never going to be comfortable doing an international film that he didn't control," Schrader admitted.

Schrader even revealed he briefly considered replacing Shah Rukh with Salman Khan but eventually abandoned the idea.