Whenever the topic of Leonardo DiCaprio’s acting talents comes into conversation, it’s either he’s overrated or underrated, there’s no in-between. I’m sure that debate will continue on …
And yet, DiCaprio has turned into an iconic American actor, one who never plays it safe, and always goes for risky, adventurous fare. I’ll admit that he’s been miscast in some films, but, when given the right role, he’s mesmerizing to behold.
Forget about the star power, or good looks, for a second. There’s no doubt in my mind that DiCaprio is one of the most talented actors of his generation. However, is he one of the greatest ever? Time will tell.
Martin Scorsese doesn’t believe in waiting, he is flat-out saying, in a just-leaked speech he gave at the NBR awards, that DiCaprio is most definitely an all-timer:
He couldn’t make it here tonight for a really good reason … He’s right in the center doing prep for Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film […] So in 23 years, we made six pictures together now… I have faith in him. I know I can depend on him. His immersion in the process of the person who’s trying to play within the story is full. His fearlessness is something which has given me life when I make a film.
I think this kind of really a times, maddening moment to search for what might be the truth of every character he plays. You know, he’s a genius in terms of cinema really is, and you could see it in the face. You could see it not only through the eyes, but he has the face of cinema. He doesn’t have to say a word. It’s all there. You could see it in all his films that he’s made going from ‘This Boy Life’ to the ‘Gilbert Grape’ picture, which was wonderful, all the way through the extraordinary ‘The Revenant.'”
By the time we did ‘Aviator’ and ‘Departed,’ I felt a kind of resurgence of my own certain resurgence of my own energy, really, and in many ways, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon‘ is a culmination of all that work together. All the way up to the end when he’s at the witness stand. I knew I could just hold the camera on him and not cut away because I knew he would convey everything that was at that decisive moment. And we did one take, and I was moved on set, and that was it. One take, so I see him digging deeper into the corners of a human experience that many of us really can’t even bear to even acknowledge the weakness and the delusions of this guy in the film. You hate him but you tend to also love him … all the contradictions of what it is to be human. I really know he’s one of the truly one of the greatest actors in the history of movies. I thank him for everything.
Scorsese saying DiCaprio is an all-timer means he believes that the actor belongs up there with the likes of Brando, Olivier, De Niro, Pacino, Day-Lewis, Nicholson, Bogart …
That’s quite the statement from Scorsese, who has worked with DiCaprio on six movies, so far. It’s also not that surprising given that Scorsese keeps going back to working with DiCaprio. He sees something in him and it’s resulted in one of the more seminal actor/director partnerships in cinema.
DiCaprio has been Oscar-nominated six times, and he’s won once (“The Revenant” in 2016). For years, cinephiles were shunning off DiCaprio due to his handsome good looks and the fandom he acquired because of “Titanic.” And yet, the years have been very kind to DiCaprio, in fact, he may be one of the very last old-school leads left in Hollywood.