London, Dec 6 (IANS) Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has revealed that he tried to impress Robert De Niro by being "menacing" when he auditioned to be cast alongside the legend in "This Boy's Life" as a teenager.

The "Inception" star struggled to know how to make a lasting impression on De Niro when he was auditioning for him at the age of 16 before settling on the idea of seeming threatening, reports imdb.com.

"I was 13 years old when I first saw De Niro onscreen. My dad had taken me to see 'Midnight Run' at the movies. And just before the film started, he pointed to the screen and said, 'You want to watch a great actor? Now that guy is cool'," said De Niro.

"Three years later I was auditioning for 'This Boy's Life', my first film role, and I knew he'd already been cast. So I watched as many as De Niro's movies as I could beforehand. And I asked myself over and over again, 'What is the one quality that De Niro would see in me that he would respect? And then it came to me, menace," he added.