A 1972 Bill Withers classic has been sung at graduations, funerals, presidential inaugurations and Olympic ceremonies.
It's also the song that ended Leonardo DiCaprio's musical career before it ever started.
The story begins with Baz Luhrmann, who’d already worked with DiCaprio on Romeo + Juliet in 1996. When it came time to cast Moulin Rouge!Luhrmann wanted his former Romeo for the role of Christian, a starving romantic poet at the center of a Parisian love story. The role required someone who could sing lush romantic numbers including Elton John's "Your Song" and the film's original ballad "Come What May" in front of a full orchestra. Luhrmann needed a standout voice. To his dismay, he was about to find out DiCaprio didn't have one.
The two sat down for a private session. Just them and a single piano player. They picked a song to try together: Bill Withers' "Lean on Me."
It did not go well at all.
"To be honest, I'm not really prepared to do a musical, simply because I think I have a pretty atrocious voice," DiCaprio said later. "We had a friendly thing where it was me and him and a piano player, and we tried to sing a song together. It didn't go too well. I think it was 'Lean on Me,' and when I hit the high note, he just turned to me."
What Luhrmann said next was polite, brief and final.
"Yes, D, I don't know if this conversation should continue."
That was the end of Leonardo DiCaprio's Moulin Rouge! audition.
Related: Linda Ronstadt Hired Two Unknowns for 1971 Disneyland Concert—Accidentally Assembling One of Rock's Greatest Bands
There was also a personal angle to what came next. Ewan McGregor had already lost a major role to DiCaprio once before, missing out on Danny Boyle's The Beach. Taking Christian from the actor who had beaten him to that earlier part was, by most accounts, a satisfying turnaround.
There's a particular irony in the song that did it. Bill Withers was in his early thirties when he wrote "Lean on Me" in 1971. He’d spent nine years in the US Navy before moving to Los Angeles, where he worked at a factory making aircraft parts for Boeing 747s to get by. He spent his nights recording demos. At the time, he was already considered old for a first-time artist when his first album came out.
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
He wrote that song, drawing on his memories of growing up in Slab Fork, West Virginia, a small coal mining community where neighbors genuinely depended on one another to survive. He stumbled on the phrase 'Lean on Me' while running his hands up and down the keys of a new Wurlitzer electric piano and built the entire song around it. It’s been recorded by hundreds of artists since.
It doesn't require a trained voice or a wide range. It has one moment where the melody climbs and holds, a sustained high note in the bridge that separates the singers from everyone else.
DiCaprio missed it. Luhrmann heard it. The audition was over.
A song that was designed to be sung by everyone, regardless of how they sounded, turned out to be the one that proved Leonardo DiCaprio couldn't sing.
The Role That Went to Everyone Else First
Once DiCaprio was definitely out, the audition queue filled up fast.
Ethan Hawke has claimed that he gave the best screen test of his life for Moulin Rouge! and still didn't get the part. Heath Ledger auditioned. Jake Gyllenhaal even auditioned. Still, each of them walked out without the role.
Ewan McGregor won the role.
His ability to actually sing, combined with the chemistry he built with Nicole Kidman, carried the film to eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture. Moulin Rouge! won two Academy Awards and turned McGregor into a household name on a scale he hadn't previously experienced.
This year marks the film's 25th anniversary. The film's soundtrack is being rediscovered by a whole new generation who weren't alive when it came out—including my own daughters.
@disneyspainCOME WHAT MAY! Reunidos, por fin ❤️ #MoulinRouge disponible en @disneypluses #CineEnTikTok
♬ sonido original - disneyspain - disneyspainMeanwhile, DiCaprio’s never attempted a musical since. He’s acknowledged his voice is the reason. No footage exists of the "Lean on Me" audition, and DiCaprio isn’t complaining.
Ironically, DiCaprio is currently attached to play Frank Sinatra in a biopic being developed with director Martin Scorsese. As of February 2026, DiCaprio confirmed the project is "still in the works." The film, if it happens, would require him to embody one of the greatest vocal artists in all of American history.
The man who couldn't hit the high note in "Lean on Me" and told Baz Luhrmann he had "a pretty atrocious voice" is now officially attached to play a man with one of the most recognizable voices in music.
Baz Luhrmann has made no comment.
Since Withers’ death in 2020, his music’s only grown in popularity, with "Lean on Me" turning up at disaster relief fundraisers, sporting celebrations and graduation ceremonies around the world every single year.
Bill Withers wrote it as a gift for strangers.
It turned out to be a career defining gift for Ewan McGregor.
And the man it humbled is still, somehow, circling the world of music from a very safe distance. But, maybe not for much longer.
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