Corey Feldman claims Johnny Depp pushed him out of What's Eating Gilbert Grape by telling producers he was a junkie

What's eating Corey Feldman?

In a new podcast interview, the actor and '80s heartthrob said he's still "bitter" about missing out on a role in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, which he blames on Johnny Depp.

Speaking to Billy Corgan on his Magnificent Others podcast, Feldman claimed that he nearly portrayed Arnie, the disabled younger brother of Depp's titular protagonist in the 1993 drama. "I was actually cast to play Leonardo DiCaprio's role," he said. "I never saw the film because I'm still bitter. Bitter leaf in that one. But yes, I was originally cast for that role."

"Did they push you out?" Corgan asked.

"Johnny Depp," Feldman said, nodding. "He was cast after I was, and apparently whispered into the producers' ear that he wasn't fond of me, and thought — he said that I was a junkie and that he didn't work with junkies. And this is the first time I've ever telling this story, so I'm sure I'm gonna get hung by this one."

Representatives for Depp didn't immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment on Feldman's remarks.

When Corgan asked if Feldman was using drugs at the time, the Stand by Me star insisted that he wasn't. "I was sober. I had just gotten sober," he said. "I had just gotten out of rehab. I had turned my life around, and, in fact, was trying to help River [Phoenix] at the time, who [Depp] was running with at the time, as we all know."

Feldman continued: "As you can imagine, there was a bit of a thorn in the side on that one. And, had I not been pushed out and done that role, who knows what would have happened from that point forward."

The actor noted that Gilbert Grape ultimately earned DiCaprio his first Oscar nomination (he now has seven, with one win). "There was a bitter tea there," Feldman admitted. "But that said, you don't hang on those, you get past 'em."

Gilbert Grape wasn't the only time Feldman competed with DiCaprio for a major role. "Ironically, just a couple years later, I also was up for Titanic, so there was kind of a double banger with Leo," he recalled. "But that was okay, because that one I wasn't as close. I was up for it, I read for it, I know that I was in the contention somewhere."

Feldman also said he auditioned to play Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy — a role that went to his Goonies costar Sean Astin. "I was actually up for Sean's role, and I heard I got pretty close on that as well," he said. "Although I couldn't have gained the weight, so I'll give him that. He did a great job aesthetically being able to add that weight. It's something I cannot physically do."

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Watch Feldman and Corgan's full conversation above.