Leonardo DiCaprio could have died in two freak plane accidents while trying to get to Russia - where he came face-to-face with Vladimir Putin.
The Hollywood actor first met with the Russian leader in 2010 at the International Tiger Conservation Forum in St Petersburg, which was also attended by British model Naomi Campbell.
Putin has enjoyed surrounding himself with celebs, making A-list actors Steven Seagal and Gerard Depardieu Russian citizens, but one of his strangest interactions came with Leo.
The Titanic actor, whose late grandparents were Russian, has described himself as ‘half-Russian’ and would later say he would “love to play” the Russian president in a movie.
While in the middle of a prepared speech, Putin broke off from what he was saying after spotting Leonardo in the crowd and apologised for his bad manners.
Putin said that DiCaprio had "broke his way through to us as if he were crossing a front line" - then called him a "real man" - but what prompted such an outburst?
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DiCaprio was travelling to the homeland of his Russian grandparents to attend the conference on protecting endangered Amur tigers.
Governments of 13 countries where tigers still lived met in St Petersburg for the summit to discuss a plan to save the big cats from extinction as numbers dropped from 100,000 in the wild to just 3,500 in a century.
It should have been a relatively simple journey, but DiCaprio got the shock of his life when spotted his plan’s engine had "exploded".
Describing it as the scariest moment of his life on Ellen in 2016, Leo said: "I was looking out of the window and the entire engine had turned into a fireball.
2I was the only person that seemed to see this, it was a flaming fireball, and it was all Russian passengers.
"I kind of felt like I had already died and gone to heaven as nobody said anything.
"I was screaming at the top of my lungs shouting, 'what the hell is going on here?' And the stewardess came out and said, 'We seem to have a slight problem here'."
The actor said the Delta Airline plane from New York was forced to dump fuel for 45 minutes then turn back around to make an emergency landing.
"All the tyres exploded and there were a hundred different ambulances there. So that was another bummer," he added.
DiCaprio was determined to make it to Russia and got on a second plane, which was forced to make an unscheduled stop In Helsinki to get fuel after struggling in unusually strong winds.
The Wolf of Wall Street actor did eventually make it to St Petersburg on a third plane - and got a surprise when he was mentioned by Putin during his speech at the summit.
Describing him as a "famous and much-loved American actor", Putin praised DiCaprio for pledging $1m of his own money to the World Wildlife Fund.
After Leo stood up to present himself to the crowd, Putin then described the ordeal that had befallen the actor.
"Not all of the passengers wanted to continue their flight right away, but Mr DiCaprio was not one of them," he explained to the gasping audience.
The Russian President then said that, in Russia, DiCaprio's efforts made him a "muzhik" - which translates as a "real man".
"A person with less stable nerves could have decided against coming, could have read it as a sign - that it was not worth going," he added.
The pair then had a cosy sit down chat together after the summit, with Putin sipping on a hot beverage, where DiCaprio revealed his Russian heritage.
The Departed actor explained that two of his late grandparents were Russian and that he had always wanted to take his grandmother to St Petersburg.
"I'm sure when you get to know St Petersburg you will be proud of your Russian roots," Putin replied.
Delegates agreed to double tiger numbers by 2022 to focus on protecting tiger habitats and to address poaching.
"My foundation has provided financial support for several projects for the protection of these big cats," DiCaprio told Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper in 2016.
"Putin and I talked only about the protection of these magnificent animals, not politics."
In the same interview with the German newspaper, DiCaprio somewhat controversially described Putin as "very, very, very interesting."
The Oscar winner also expressed his desire to appear as Putin in a movie, stating: “I would love to play him.”
He continued: “I think there should be more films about Russian history because it has many stories worthy of Shakespeare. That is fascinating for an actor.
"Lenin also would be an interesting role. I would like also to star as Rasputin."
It is unknown whether the pair ever conversed again, but DiCaprio has made his feelings very clear on Russia’s war with Ukraine.
The actor, who has Ukrainian roots through his maternal grandmother, has reportedly donated $10million to the Ukrainian government, according to the International Visegrad Fund.
DiCaprio isn't the only Hollywood actor to have taken a shine to Putin, as two of them were actually given Russian passports.
Under Siege and Hard to Kill star Steven Seagal, who received his Russian citizenship in 2017, first bonded with Putin over a shared love of martial arts.
In 2017, Seagal appeared on Good Morning Britain live from Moscow to defend Putin amid claims he had influenced the American election.
Seagal said: "As I’ve said many times I think he’s one of the great world leaders, he’s brilliant, he’s articulate, he’s a great tactician. Him and I started out becoming friends over the martial arts. The martial arts has to do with a lot of things.
"It’s a philosophy, it gets into the history of tactics and the history of the world and the world in conflict and the world in peace and so him and I basically, we don’t have a political relationship, we really talk about the martial arts and the philosophy and people and dilemmas in life, that kind of thing."
French actor Gerard Depardieu has been one of Putin's closest celebrity pals and was given his Russian passport in 2013.
Putin himself signed the decree granting Russian citizenship to Depardieu, who described Russia as "a great democracy, and not a country where the prime minister calls one of its citizens shabby".
The actor responded by writing an open letter saying: "I love your country, Russia - its people, its history, its writers. I love your culture, your intelligence."
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