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Well, hello sailor. Hot damn. I’m not even some die-hard Leo-loonie, but Mr. DiCaprio is looking fine in these photos. His dirt-lip is under control, he’s rocking the George Clooney-esque “Old Hollywood, In a New Way” vibe. I’ve never really felt this for Leo, unless you count my kind-of crush on him circa Romeo + Juliet, but I wasn’t so much attracted to him as I just liked the way he was growing up. I’m seriously going to consider putting this current “hottie” Leo on my must-watch list, along with newly-added Jeremy Renner.
Anyway, the interview is pretty good too, just judging from the excerpts Esquire has released thus far (here for the Esquire piece, but I’m including all of the excerpts). Leo talks about everything from his love of Meryl Streep (“Meryl may be the greatest actor in the world.”) to River Phoenix’s death, to his fame post-Titanic (“I set up everything in my personal life to rebel against that image in order to strip it down.”). Here are the excerpts:
On the Night River Phoenix Died
When I was eighteen, River Phoenix was far and away my hero. Think of all those early great performances — My Own Private Idaho. Stand by Me. I always wanted to meet him. One night, I was at this Halloween party, and he passed me. He was beyond pale — he looked white. Before I got a chance to say hello, he was gone, driving off to the Viper Room, where he fell over and died.
That’s a lesson.Working with James Cameron:
Jim knows exactly what he wants. Needless to say, when somebody felt a different way on the set of ‘Titanic,’ there was a confrontation. Jim had it out with them right there in front of everybody. He lets you know exactly how he feels. But he’s of the lineage of John Ford. He knows what he wants his film to be. I remember sitting in a theater after it was done and being in awe. He got what he wanted.”A ‘Titanic’ rebellion:
It wasn’t the era of penetrating Internet paparazzi that we have now. But my name wasn’t me anymore. I was sort of this thing. Kate felt it, too. But a lot of the attention was on me because of the teenage girls who repeatedly went to see the movie. I had the blond hair, and I was Jack Dawson, this heroic figure.
So I set up everything in my personal life to rebel against that image in order to strip it down. I had a lot of fun stripping it down. But ultimately, that knocked me a few rungs down the ladder.On Growing Up
The earliest memories I have are jumping up onstage before concerts in downtown L. A. and trying to get on the mic and break-dance, or do imitations of my mother’s friends or my father’s friends, or be a comic in class. I was the most insane child you can imagine, pretty intolerable to be around. High-octane energy all the time, never wanting to focus on schoolwork.On Risks and Really Growing Up
What you risk just to have thrills when you’re in your twenties is absurd. It’s all part of that process of doing things that are daring to be accepted by your peers — and it’s absolutely insane. You can enter a never-ending vapid hole trying to catch the next exciting moment without ever stopping to appreciate it. It can be a never-ending process of chasing something that isn’t there. I know it’s a cliché, but I’m happy to be alive. I went skydiving and my chutes didn’t open. Two of them.On Scorsese vs. Spielberg
The only other person who knows as much about film as Martin Scorsese is Steven Spielberg…. People would always ask me, What are the differences between Spielberg and Scorsese?
All I could find myself talking about was the similarities.On That Nude Scene in Revolutionary Road
Kate Winslet is one of my dearest friends. We have the ultimate trust in each other and the best of intentions for what we want to do. I knew Kate before Sam [Mendes, her husband] even met her. So on the outside, it may seem strange to do a sex scene with a woman while her husband is directing. But it didn’t feel that way to me.
When the scene was about to start, Kate said, in front of the crew, “Wait, wait, this is totally weird.” She turned to both Sam and I and said, “Are you guys okay?”
We both looked at each other and said, Yeah, we’re totally fine.
She said, “It’s even weirder that you’re both totally fine.”On That ‘Confrontation’ Scene in The Departed
I believe Jack went up to Marty afterward and said, “I don’t know if he necessarily believed me. I don’t know if he was sincerely threatened.”
Marty said, “Let’s do it again tomorrow.”
So I come on the set the next day and hear we’re doing the scene over for lighting reasons. Okay. But then a prop guy comes over to me and says, “Just to let you know, there were some props Jack asked for. I had to get him a fire extinguisher, a bottle of whiskey, a lighter, and a gun.”On the Greatest Actor in the World
When I sat in the theater, it was, Oh, my God, she’s the only person who looks completely natural. She’s the only person who has actually made her character into a real human being who would have an erratic moment because those erratic moments are what make you more human. That was a huge moment of discovery. Meryl may be the greatest actor in the world.On Proving Himself
Probably the only thing I knew with complete clarity was that I wanted to be an actor. But there was a lot of rejection early on, and so it never felt like, Hey, I’ve got something here. There was always an element of me that needed to prove something to myself. It’s something I don’t want to get rid of, because it’s what drives me. I’m never settled and I’m never satisfied.
[From Esquire]
Yeah, I’m kind of in love with him now. I’ve always thought that he was probably a pretty smart guy with some really great people around him. Even though it looked dumb at the time, I think taking several years off after Titanic was the smartest thing he ever did for himself and his career – it gave him distance, perspective and he certainly came back with a bang, didn’t he? You know what this reminds me of? Robert Pattinson. I think Sparkles would do well to examine the DiCaprio phenomenon, and try to base his career in a similar fashion.
Photos courtesy of Esquire online.
Written by Kaiser
Posted in Leonardo DiCaprio
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39 Responses to “Leonardo DiCaprio looks & sounds amazing in Esquire”
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Ooooooooooh, thank you!
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Didn’t “get” DiCaprio’s appeal for the longest time. He seemed nice enough, clever, little edgy, but a little too pretty in the face area.
Until “The Departed…”
Now?
HOT DAMN IS RIGHT!
He is rockin’ those wrinkles in that drunken murderous stare as he irons absolutely nothing on a rooftop!
WOO HOO!
::High fives Kaiser as I run out door to local newsstand::
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♥ him, BUT he eerily reminds me of Bill Clinton in some of these photos.
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Hot damn. I was never a Leo fan – too pretty-boy for me. However, the passage of time and a few extra pounds have made him look like an m-a-n man, no longer a pretty boy. Mmmm mmm mmm. Also looking forward to his new movie – looks creepy good.
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Now he just has a wrinkly baby face. Still not hot. Scorsese’s indulgence of diCaprio and waste of perfectly good material on him is confounding.
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He looks so handsome! I love all the pictures of him except the one where he is ironing outside with the beautiful view, I don’t get it, is that where he usually irons? (I doubt it) I would think he sends his clothes to the laundry.
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right on ally
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I think Robert Pattinson probably couldn’t live long enough to outlast the amount of time he’d need to take off before Martin Scorsese offered him a role. Just sayin’.
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Sigh and Jackson, totally agree.
for the longest time I never saw the attraction. looked like a little boy to me.
but he’s really grown into his looks and now…HUBBA HUBBA.
not to mention, he’s a great actor.
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I LOVE the ironing photo. It’s so hysterical that it’s awesomeness on a stick!!!
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I like Leo. I have never found him attractive, but I like him and I respect his career choices. He’s a good actor, not a sell-out.
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Winslet’s comments on his nude scene were humorous.
Love how he and Winslet have grown further in acting.
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He looks very sexy in that first picture!
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I don’t know. Isn’t he really close to Scorsese, the same man who staunchly defended child rapist Polanski? I can’t help but think Leo is also a Polanski supporter. I get that a lot of Hollywood backed the unrepentant bastard, but that doesn’t make it alright.
I hope I’m wrong, but considering the type of men Leo has always hung out with, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was true. It’s fine to love his acting, but considering this is Hollywood after all, I’d stay away from loving him as a person.
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God I love him. I remember being a kid and watching Growing Pains and being SO in love with his character Luke.
Ugh.
Love.
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He is a great actor. He is more attractive when he smiles.
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did not like him at all when he was younger, but he is awesome as he ages. he’s smart, coherent, aware, and getting sexier with every wrinkle. he needs an oscar. I feel like he is really underrated as an actor.
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Pete – Holding something against Leo that “you think he might think” is pretty far out there.
I like him, always have. Sometimes he looks better than other times, but so do I.
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nice pix
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He does look more manly here. I also had never found him attractive because he always had the face and body of a 12-year old, but “Romeo + Juliet” is one of my fave movies and every time “The Departed” comes on TV I watch it. EVERY FREAKING TIME. So I like him as an actor but I’m still not completely on the attractiveness bandwagon.
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Scorsese signed the petition, diCaprio did not.
http://www.indiewire.com/article/over_100_in_film_community_sign_polanski_petition/P1/
(WHEW!)
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I’ve had this kid on my radar since “This Boy’s Life” with Mr. De Niro. You wanna see a kid act check it out.
He’s also great in “What’s Eating gilbert Grape” With Mr. Depp.
Leo is a great actor, not a celeb pretending to be an actor. . . like Brad Pitt.
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He’s sort of hit or miss in hotness for me (I’d say hit in these pics) but I’ve always thought he was a good actor, and getting better as he gets older.
Most importantly, I think he chose his roles very well. After Titanic he could have gone with it and had a very Matthew McConaughey career of being the “cute guy” in stupid movies, but he’s stuck to more serious dramas and I think it works for him.
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i always liked leo, but it wasn’t until “the aviator” that i jumped on the leo-is-hot bandwagon. i jumped on with both feet.
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I didn’t like him when Titanic came out, because the hype pissed me off. But I like how he’s grown up. And I lurve Romeo + Juliet. And the ironing board pic. WTF??
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I have always thought Leo was super hot and I generally am not in to blond men. However, the fact that he only dates models sort of looses his appeal fo me. Makes him sound superficial. Anyway, he has grownup and he does look good and sounds sane in the interview. But what is it with these hollywood types gushing on and on about directors and Meryl Streep. They are all just human beings like us.
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I don’t find him hot at all.
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Leo was so cute when he first showed up in movies, then he went through this awkward phase when his face couldn’t decide if it wanted to look like a boy or a man. It’s good to see that his look has settled now, and he’s lookin’ awesome.
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I would totally sit on his face and spin.
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He’s looking fairly distinguished
WOW @ that River Phoenix run in. That’s such a sad picture, here one minute, gone the next. I can’t believe he was only 23 :/
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He was genius in ‘whats eating at Gilbert Grape’. That is his best performance by far.
I am glad he did not say Megax Fox is the best actress ever!
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He’s traveled the entire arc: child actor, teenage heart throb, solid actor. I think he’s probably more bizarre than this interview leads us to believe, but he’s arrived through it all, so kudos to him. But he’s more Jack Nicholson than Clooney.
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Gotta love Leo
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He is definitely growning into his face with age. He’s a George Clooney type. Nothing special when he was younger, but get’s better looking with each year he puts on. He also has handled his success with maturity and levelheadedness…a big plus in Hollyweird.
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omg he is looking hot but he is so not clooney
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He has had the most perfect face for like the last 15 years. really.
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WOW – I absolutely LOVE Leo and agree with #17 that he is underrated. I also agree with IRL500 that he can act…and Brad Pitt is the true wannabe. I cannot even watch a moview with BP in it. He is a joke. Since this article is about Leo, I think he very handsome and attractive. He is a convincing and articulate actor. I’d watch anything and everything with him in it.
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Sorry, I just can’t love anyone who preaches “environmentalism” from a private jet, however pretty/talented they are.
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hottest man ever.
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