Leonardo DiCaprio
Interview by: Rocco Passafuime
Leonardo DiCaprio is undoubtedly one of his generation's most talented and impressive performers. At 19, DiCaprio already developed a reputation for his powerful performances with his breakthrough role in This Boy's Life and his Oscar nominated Best Supporting Actor role in What's Eating Gilbert Grape.
Even after reaching the enormous heights of mega-stardom with 1997's Titanic, Leo continued building his reputation for powerful performances. In recent years, Leo has taken on some of his most impressive roles to date, working with acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese in 2002's The Gangs Of New York and 2004's The Aviator, the latter earning him a best actor Oscar nod.
Now at the age of 32, DiCaprio has jumped on board with Scorsese for the third time with his latest film, the crime thriller The Departed.
Leo had a relatively simple explanation for his enthusiasm to work with the highly praised filmmaker.
'The truth is I suppose it all started, for me anyway, wanting to work with him doing This Boy's Life with Robert De Niro and getting familiar with Robert De Niro's work, so obviously that would mean Martin Scorsese's work as well,' DiCaprio says. 'So I became a fan of his work. At a very early age, if you were to ask me who I wanted to work with at 16 years old, starting out in the business, it would be [Scorsese]. I got the opportunity to work with him on Gangs of New York in 2000. I think just from there, I don't have an exciting term for it, other than we have a good time working together. We have similar tastes as far as the films we like. He certainly has broadened my spectrum as far as films that are out there in the history of cinema and the importance of cinema and really brought me to different levels as an actor. I look to him as a mentor.'
DiCaprio's choice to participate in The Depared with Scorcese goes beyond his simple admiration for the director.
'It was really Bill Monahan's work, this tightly-woven, highly-complex ensemble piece, this gangster thriller,' DiCaprio explains. 'It's very rare in this business where a script just lands on your lap that is ready to go. There was a certain amount of work and there was, of course, character development, bringing certain things out, and changing dialogue. To have a construct of a story there and to have really highly complex characters, duplicitous characters, information, disinformation, plot twists, and everything coming to a satisfying ending is something that you hardly ever get in this business. I know I got the script when Marty got the script and we just talked to each other. It was one of those things that we didn't really needed to discuss. I wanted to do it, he wanted to do it, and for lack of a better term, the rest is history.'
For his role as good cop Billy Costigan, DiCaprio dove extensively into studying his character, as well as the world around him.
'If you can't draw upon anything in your real life, you go meet people that have done these sorts of things,' he explains. 'Part of the process for me was going to Boston."
DiCaprio adds: "It was just very important to meet some of the real characters and get to know them and hear personal accounts. You could read books and I read some of them, but to be able to penetrate some of these guys' minds, and really get deep into what they were thinking, what was going on, was important.'
DiCaprio was also excited that The Departed would give him a chance to work with Hollywood acting icon Jack Nicholson. Nicholson plays the role of the film's antagonist, a Boston Irish mob boss Frank Costello.
'As far as Jack is concerned, we kind of expected the unexpected,' DiCaprio says. "To have Jack Nicholson join up with Martin Scorcese and play a gangster is something that I think a lot of movie fans have been waiting for. I think we all knew that if he came on board that he'd sort of grab the reins of this character and be free-form and we all were completely ready for that everyday when we walked up on the set.'
Nicholson is known for making an impact with whomever he shares screen time with. DiCaprio had his share of "Jack moments" on set.
'One table scene in particular, I remember coming in, we did it one way, and I remember Jack speaking to Marty, saying that he didn't feel he was intimidating enough," DiCaprio recalls. "And then, the next day we came in and the prop guy told me, 'Be careful, he's got a fire extinguisher, a gun, some matches, and a bottle of whisky!'"
DiCaprio had his own challenges with his character as well, but he credits the intense filming atmosphere as being a truly memorable experience.
"For me, as an actor, to embody the character of this guy that has to relay to the audience this constant 24 hour panic attack that I'm going through for my life, surrounded by people that would literally blow my head off if I gave them any indication that I was who I was, coupled with the fact that I'm sitting across the table from this homicidal maniac that would maybe light me on fire. It gives you your character a whole new dynamic and it completely altered and shifted the scene in a completely different direction," DiCaprio says. "Those were certainly some of the most intense moments of the film for me certainly and as an actor, as a human being, as a person, they are memories that I'll never forget.'
