Anish Moonka@anishmoonka
Paul Thomas Anderson pitched Leonardo DiCaprio on Boogie Nights in 1997 by showing up at his mother’s house with a LaserDisc of Raging Bull and a VHS tape of pornography. “I want to do the Raging Bull of pornography.” DiCaprio was in. Then Titanic happened, the productions overlapped, and he chose Cameron’s ship. Mark Wahlberg got the part.
PTA and DiCaprio wouldn’t make a movie together for 28 years. But DiCaprio kept calling him whenever a script needed fixing on someone else’s film.
According to two industry sources reported by World of Reel, PTA did a massive rewrite of Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon after DiCaprio raised concerns the script read like “too much of a great white hope story.” Credited screenwriter Eric Roth later admitted “mixed feelings” about the finished film and confirmed a major rewrite. PTA got zero credit.
Then Joaquin Phoenix threatened to walk off Ridley Scott’s Napoleon 10 days before cameras rolled unless PTA rewrote the script. Scott confirmed it to the New York Times: “Tommy was doing Licorice Pizza, advising me how to do Napoleon. Three of us in this room screaming with laughter.” Zero credit again.
Now it’s happened a third time. According to The InSneider, PTA rewrote Patrick Marber’s script for What Happens at Night, Scorsese’s gothic horror film currently shooting in Prague with DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. Once again, at DiCaprio’s request.
This is how script doctoring has always worked in Hollywood. Robert Towne rewrote the famous garden scene in The Godfather without credit. Carrie Fisher punched up Hook, Sister Act, and Lethal Weapon 3. Under Writers Guild rules, you need to contribute more than 33% of an adapted screenplay to earn your name on screen. Most script doctors stay just under that line.
What makes PTA’s situation different is who’s calling. Scorsese and Ridley Scott both handed him their scripts, and the common thread every time is one actor who quietly picks up the phone.
PTA confirmed it all in a September 2025 Dazed interview: “Both of those things were a thing with Joaquin, a thing with Leo, and obviously with Marty and Ridley. It’s always a privilege to say, ‘Let me tell you my thoughts on the script.’”
DiCaprio eventually called missing Boogie Nights one of his biggest career regrets. They finally made One Battle After Another together in 2025. Won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay. Took 28 years and a LaserDisc of Raging Bull. But the whole time, DiCaprio had been pulling PTA into his biggest projects through the back door, shaping films whose credits will never carry his name.
Scorsese and DiCaprio’s 6 previous films together earned 41 Oscar nominations. What Happens at Night is their 7th. PTA’s fingerprints are on at least two of them.
