According to rumour, Robert De Niro didn't want Matt Damon originally for his new film The Good Shepherd, in fact he wanted Leonardo DiCaprio.

He tells us that there was nothing nefarious about the swap:

"Leonardo DiCaprio was originally going to do it, but he had schedule problems and it got so complicated...I said I had to move on quickly because I had all the machinery of the movie moving forward."

The comment comes from DeNiro through WENN and Hollywood.com.

That's just something that happens every day. Now I haven't seen the film in all fairness, but I think that DiCaprio is a better actor than Damon and would have suited the part well, but I don't see anything lost with the change. Who would you have preferred?