Leonardo dicaprio resim
leonardo dicaprio
leonardo dicaprio photo
dicaprio leo
dicaprio
20 Aralık 2007 Perşembe
Leonardo Di Caprio photos,
Leonardo dicaprio resim
leonardo dicaprioleonardo dicaprio photodicaprio leodicaprio
Etiketler:
dicaprio,
iamges,
leonardo,
Leonardo di caprio,
Leonardo dicaprio,
photo,
photos,
pictures,
wallpapers
Kaydol:
Kayıt Yorumları (Atom)
Leonardo dicaprio Biography
Birth Name :Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio
Nickname:Leo
Height 6' 1" (1.85 m)
Mini Biography
His name allegedly derives from his German mother Irmalin's having experienced a sudden kick from her unborn boy while enjoying a DaVinci painting at the Uffizi. In the year following his birth, she and his Italian father, George, were divorced. He grew up in Echo Park, then a particularly seedy, drug-dominated area of Los Angeles. At five he appeared on his favorite TV show "Romper Room" (1953) and was nearly thrown off for misbehaving. After a string of commercials, educational films ("Mickey's Safety Club"), occasional parts in TV series, a debut film role as Josh in Critters 3 (1991), a continuing role as the homeless boy Luke in the TV series "Growing Pains" (1985), he got his break-through part as Toby in This Boy's Life (1993), co-starring with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin.The part led the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics to name him runner-up for Best Supporting Actor. His first Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations came for the difficult role of Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). Equally challenging parts were a drug-troubled Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries (1995), the tormented homosexual poet Rimbaud in Total Eclipse (1995), and the angry teenage son of a harried mother in Marvin's Room (1996). He made a major impact with his starring role in a very updated Romeo + Juliet (1996). Superstardom came to DiCaprio playing Jack Dawson in Titanic (1997), highest grossing film ever, tied with Ben-Hur (1959) for most Academy Awards, though Leo himself was not nominated. His performance in the remake of The Man in the Iron Mask (1998/I) was poorly received, but the film still turned a profit. His next major film, The Beach (2000/I), was not a success, but he made another comeback in Catch Me If You Can (2002) and remains an A-list star.IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <>
Trivia
While filming The Beach (2000/I) off the coast of Thailand, Leonardo and others were swept off a camera boat by strong winds and waves. No one was injured. [16 April 1999]
His first publicity spot was about MILK.
Sues Playgirl magazine over plans to publish pictures --including full frontal nudity -- of himself. [March 1998]
Ranked #75 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Chosen by People Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." [1997]
Was considering starring in a movie about actor James Dean but turned down the role because he felt he wasn't experienced enough to do the film. [1996]
Screen tested for the part of Robin in Batman Forever (1995).
When five years old, he was in an educational TV program, called "Romper Room" (1953) and was nearly kicked off for uncontrollable behavior.
Chosen by People Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." [1998]
Father was a comicbook dealer.
Attended John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, California.
Has a stepbrother, Adam Farrar.
He and his family funded a state-of-the-art computer center at the Los Feliz branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, which was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
A Manhattan appeals court decided to go ahead with a $45 million lawsuit against DiCaprio by actor and screenwriter Roger Wilson for allegedly encouraging his friends in a street fight with Wilson over advances DiCaprio's friends made toward Wilson's girlfriend, Elizabeth Berkley. [2000]
At age 10, his agent advised him to change his name to a more American- friendly Lenny Williams. Needless to say, he did not follow that advice.
Was initially set to star as Alan Jensen in Harvard Man (2001), but the film's low budget could not afford to pay his salary, so he dropped out and Adrian Grenier took the lead.
Was set to star in American Psycho (2000) but had to drop it due to scheduling conflicts. Christian Bale took the part instead.
In January 1999, his lawyers filed an application to allow DiCaprio to copyright his own name.
Attended Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies before attending Marshall High
Attended Seeds Elementary School at UCLA where he took summer courses in performance art
Ranked #42 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #74 in 2002 and #60 in 2001.
Ranked #6 in Star TV's "Top 10 Box Office Stars of the 1990s" (2003).
Childhood friends with Tobey Maguire and the late Christopher Pettiet.
When his camera went missing, he offered a substantial reward of many thousands of pounds for its return. [November 2003]
Was once attached to star in American Psycho (2000) and was reputedly offered over $20 million for the role.
Openly supported John Kerry in the 2004 election. He went around 11 states and gave 20 speeches about the environment and how the Bush Administration has damaged it.
Was offered the role of the porn star Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights (1997) at around the same time as he was offered his role in Titanic (1997). The Dirk Diggler role eventually went to Mark Wahlberg.
Mentioned in an interview with Katie Couric that while filming The Aviator (2004), it brought back his own obsessive-compulsive disorder that he had as a child. (December 23, 2004).
He is an environmental conservationist and often advocates and supports natural causes.
Considered for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in _Spider-Man (2002)_.
Filed police charges after being attacked with a bottle by an animal-rights activist while leaving a nightclub in June 2005. Although the wound was very close to his jugular vein, it was not expected to delay production on his latest movie.
Of 3/4 German and 1/4 Italian descent. His paternal grandfather was an Italian immigrant
Won the role of Rimbaud in Total Eclipse (1995) after the death of actor River Phoenix in 1993.
Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson are his favorite actors.
He can speak a little German.
Boyfriend of Gisele Bündchen [2002-2005]
Was considered for the role of Anakin Skywalker for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002). But much to the relief of hardcore Star Wars fans, the role went to Hayden Christensen instead.
He and Jason Robards received Oscar-nominations for portraying Howard Hughes. Robards played Hughes in Melvin and Howard (1980) and Leonardo played him in The Aviator (2004)
Was originally cast in The Good Shepherd (2006).
He and Gisele Bündchen were chosen by People Magazine as the "Most Beatiful Couple in the World", in 2004.
Very good friends with actress Kate Winslet.
He once said that playing Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) was "the most fun I've ever had".
Appeared in the television series "Parenthood" (1990), in the role originally played by Joaquin Phoenix. In the original film, Phoenix's grandfather is played by Jason Robards, who, like DiCaprio, has played Howard Hughes.
Good friends with Mark Wahlberg.
He purchased a 104-acre island off the coast of Belize in 2005 and plans to develop a resort with renewable energy sources. Purchase price for the island, Blackadore Caye, was estimated to be $1.75 million.
Good friends with Lukas Haas and Kevin Connolly.
His father Geoge is of half German, half Italian descent and his mother is German.
In 2006 in "The Independent", he named his ten favorite movies as: Ladri di biciclette (1948), Taxi Driver (1976), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), 8½ (1963), The Third Man (1949), Yojimbo (1961), Sunset Blvd. (1950), The Shining (1980) and East of Eden (1955).
Was cast in the lead role in Baz Luhrmann's doomed Alexander The Great-project.
In his childhood, he and his mother lived in poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles which he describes as "Ghettos of Hollywood".
Early in his career he appeared as a contestant on a game show called "Fun House" where stunts were performed - his involved trying to catch fish in a small pool with only his teeth.
Attended the same high school as Bo Barrett, Heidi Fleiss, Anne-Marie Johnson, and Julie Newmar.
His favorite food is pasta. His favorite drink is lemonade.
Refers to his German grandmother as "Oma".
Very close friends with Vincent Gallo.
Turned down Michael Pitt's role in The Dreamers (2003) because he felt he was too old to play a twenty-year-old student.
Was trained by renowned Hollywood Gun Coach Thell Reed, who has also trained such actors as: Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer, Edward Norton, Russell Crowe, Ben Foster and Girard Swan.
Has once said his favorite female performance is Gena Rowlands' Mabel Longhetti in A Woman Under the Influence (1974).
Has said his two favorite performances are Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) and James Dean's Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955).
Martin Scorsese is his favorite director.
Personal Quotes
The best thing about acting is that I get to lose myself in another character and actually get paid for it. It's a great outlet. As for myself, I'm not sure who I am. It seems that I change every day.
People want you to be a crazy, out-of-control teen brat. They want you miserable, just like them. They don't want heroes; what they want is to see you fall.
On working with Martin Scorsese in Gangs of New York (2002): "He's a perfectionist, obsessed with detail. That's why he went over budget and over schedule."
You can either be a vain movie star, or you can try to shed some light on different aspects of the human condition.
It's a really obvious thing to say, but the more people know too much about who you really are, and it's a fundamental thing, the more the mystery is taken away from the artist, and the harder it is for people to believe that person in a particular role.
On fame: "As soon as enough people give you enough compliments and you're wielding more power than you've ever had in your life, it's not that you become an arrogant little prick, or become rude to people ... but you get a false sense of your own importance and what you've accomplished. You actually think you've altered the course of history."
I don't really have many extravagances. I don't fly private jets and I don't have bodyguards and I don't buy crazy things. I have a couple of houses here and there. I bought a very expensive watch, and I am going to buy a really expensive movie poster, the original for The Thief of Bagdad (1940). I love movie posters.
On turning 30: "I kind of feel like the same person except more time has gone by. I hate to say that I feel like an adult now. I have to admit I wish I was still 18. After all, even through the time while I was representing that wild kid, I really wasn't. I was just living my life. I was just not making movies at the time."
On Martin Scorsese: "Martin has brought so much to the art form of film, and he is not the type of person who would be upset by not receiving an Oscar, although it is a practical joke that he has not won an Academy Award after all these years. Whatever opinions critics will have of The Aviator (2004), I really think that this is a great piece of art: once again, he has made a great classic film."
The great thing about turning 30 in this business is that you get to perpetuate being young or old as long as we want.
On whether there are any aspects of fame he dislikes: "You kidding? I feel very fortunate. A lot of people would love to be in my position. There are so many people out there who are suffering trillions of times more than I could ever suffer, and would love to be me. I am a lucky little bastard."
Yes, I can play younger than my age. But I can play characters older than I am, too. I'm not an actor who can just play the kid.
I think people read the tabloids because they want to see you eating a burger, or out of your makeup or doing something stupid because they just want to see that you're like everyone else. And that's OK. I don't want to catch myself anymore saying that my life is hard, because the good far outweighs the bad in my life. And it's easier to focus on those things, on the things that are important.
You learn after you've been in the business for a while that it's not getting your face recognized that's the payoff. It's having your film remembered.
I lived in Hollywood and, ironically, I didn't know you could just go out and get an agent and go on auditions and try and become an actor, I thought it was like a Masonic thing, like a blood line you had to belong to - until I was 13. Then I realised what you had to do. It is the one thing I know I want to do for the rest of my life.
"I wasn't surprised that Jamie got the award. But I knew that cameras would be stuffed up my face so I had my response ready. Anyone who says they don't practice is a liar." -on losing out on the Oscar to Jamie Foxx during the 2005 Academy Awards.
"I was behind a woman at the checkout counter who was looking at the magazines. She turned to me and goes, 'There he is again, that Leonardo DiCaprio. Don't you wish he'd just disappear?' I said (to myself), this is the moment where I either go, 'Do you know who I am?' or put my hat further down, pay for my corn-nuts and get out of there....I choose to avoid that." (2005)
My first date was with a girl named Cessi. We'd had a beautiful relationship over the phone all summer long. Then she came home and we met to go out for the first time to the movies. When I saw her I was petrified. I couldn't even look her in the eye to talk to her.
I don't know if I'm ever getting married. I'm probably not going to get married unless I live with somebody for 10 or 20 years. But these people took a chance and they did it. We don't have the guts that Romeo did.
As a little kid growing up in Hollywood, I was called 'a little crazy'. And now I guess I'm still that way.
I cheated a lot, because I just couldn't sit and do homework. I usually sat next to someone extremely smart.
I'm not really the quiet type, although some people think I am. But I'm the rebel type in the sense that I don't think I'm like everyone else. I try to be an individual.
I like to help the whales, the otters, and the dolphins. When I'm acting and I take a break, the first thing on my list is spending time by the sea.
I insist on keeping a level head. I've maintained the same exact home life that I've had for 20 years. All I see is more people looking at me than before. But, you know, who cares? You just can't obsess yourself with this fame stuff."
My mom and I lived at Hollywood and Western, a drug-dealer and prostitute corner. It was pretty terrifying. I got beat up a lot. I saw people have sex in the alleys. I remember I was 5 years old, and this guy with a trench coat, needles and crack cornered me. Early on, seeing the devastation on my block, seeing heroin addicts, made me think twice about ever getting involved in drugs. It's evil. Once you take that step and experiment, drugs can take over your life. You are not yourself anymore. That's something I never wanted. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up. It was kind of just me and my parents. But because of them, the neighborhood did not have a bad effect on me. My dad introduced me to artists, and every few months we'd go to some hippie doo-dah parade as Mudmen in our underwear, carrying sticks and covered in mud. My mother did everything to get me into the best schools she could find.
When a role for a young guy is being offered to me, I think of River Phoenix. It feels like a loss.
When I was young, I used to have this thing where I wanted to see everything. I used to think, 'How can I die without seeing every inch of this world?'
On his life: "What I would do in order to be popular was, I'd put myself on line and joke around and be funny, and I was always known as the crazy kid."
"Bridget Hall and I hung out for a week. The whole thing was blown out of proportion.
I don't have the guts that Romeo did. [on marriage]
On love: I like girls who are intelligent, somewhat funny, and pretty with a nice personality.
It's a weird adjustment living alone, because you don't realize how much you really miss Mumsie until she's not there.
Dark green is my favorite color. It's the color of nature and the color of money and the color of moss!
I'm not really the quiet type, although some people think I am. But I'm the rebel type in the sense that I don't think I'm like everyone else. I try to be an individual.
I'm absolutely clean. I've never tried anything. That's not a lie!
I'm not the sort of person who tries to be cool or trendy. I'm definitely an individual.
I don't have emotions about a lot of things. I rarely get angry, I rarely cry. I guess I do get excited a lot, but I don't get sad and enormously happy. I think a lot of people who talk about all that crap are lying. Right now I'm just trying to maintain happiness - that's all I really care about. Anyway, when you're my age and your hormones are kicking in, there's not much besides sex that's on your mind.
I hate speaking in front of a large audience. I don't know where it came from...but its just this gut-wrenching fear of slipping up and doing something horrible.
One of my passions is to meet people and then imitate them. I love doing that.
I have the same problem as Edward Furlong. I'm so thin!
I'm nothing like Romeo in real life.
I'm shy, but when the time comes to be wild, I'm fun-loving, adventurous, and mysterious.
It's tricky stuff. If you're not perfect in every film, then people say 'see, he was just lucky in one role'.
On his career: "I admit I've done a few lousy roles in the beginning of my career, like my role in Critters 3 (1991). But at that age, you'll do anything for attention!"
People want you to be a crazy out-of-control teen brat. They want you to be miserable, just like them. They don't want heroes. What they want is to see you fall.
Everywhere I go, somebody is staring at me. I don't know if people are staring because they recognize me or because they think I'm a weirdo.
On rumors: I've heard some pretty bad rumors...that I'm gay. If I want to go to a party with a few male friends, it doesn't mean that I'm gay. I don't see why I can't have friends of both sexes without rumors being spread about me. It's crazy.
People always like to make up stories. I am not planning on getting married. Then again, I might wake up tomorrow and decide to get married!
If you hear of any incident about me - a fight, a change of clothes, a little extra gel in the hair, don't believe it till you talk to me.
I hate being selected as 'Babe of the Month' and being called 'hunk'.
Fame is not the worst thing. I went to dinner the other night, and the girls in the restaurant ignored me. It was so annoying.
I insist on keeping a level head. I've maintained the same exact home life that I've had for 20 years. All I see is more people looking at me than before. But, you know, who cares? You just can't obsess yourself with this fame stuff.
My God, no! I hate this whole hunk thing! I feel when I see myself in that, and these other cute faces, that I'm just part of this meat factory, like, 'Wow! Here's the hunk of the month! This month we're shoving Leonardo DiCaprio down your throat! Isn't he cute. Let's put him on the cover and we'll sell so many more magazines...' That's definitely not what I want to be, and I've tried real hard to get away from that whole situation.
If you can do what you do best and be happy, you're further along in life than most people.
The main thing for me right now is just to live my life with my family and friends. They treat me like Leo, not 'Leonardo, Master Thespian'. That's all I need to keep my sanity.
The last thing I want to turn into is a fat Hollywood jerk. I was brought up without much money and I was happy. I don't think that I will strive for money or success and end up greedy or big-headed. That only leads to unhappiness. I can still be down-to-earth and do this job as long as I enjoy it.
On success: "I've just been jolting along from one film to another. . . . Now, it's sort of a shock to realize what I've achieved."
Portraying emotionally ill characters gives me the chance to really act.
I'm just starting to scratch the surface of what makes me happy, and it has taken me a while to admit that acting like a child and a jerk is fun.
On acting: "Don't think for a moment that I'm really like any of the characters I play. That's why it's called acting."
"It was pretty disheartening to be objectified like that. I wanted to stop acting for a little bit. But it changed my life in a lot of ways, but at the same time, I can't say that it didn't give me opportunities. It made me, for the first time, in control of my career." - On Titanic (1997)
A consensus has emerged in our scientific community that global warming is no longer merely a theory but a reality, a crisis with truly global implications for planet Earth and all of us who share it. - Told to thousands at the New Jersey concert for Live Earth
Salary
Blood Diamond (2006)
$20,000,000
The Departed (2006)
$20,000,000
The Aviator (2004)
$20,000,000
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
$20,000,000
Gangs of New York (2002)
$10,000,000 + Gross Points
The Beach (2000/I)
$20,000,000
Titanic (1997)
$2,500,000
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
$1,000,000
Nickname:Leo
Height 6' 1" (1.85 m)
Mini Biography
His name allegedly derives from his German mother Irmalin's having experienced a sudden kick from her unborn boy while enjoying a DaVinci painting at the Uffizi. In the year following his birth, she and his Italian father, George, were divorced. He grew up in Echo Park, then a particularly seedy, drug-dominated area of Los Angeles. At five he appeared on his favorite TV show "Romper Room" (1953) and was nearly thrown off for misbehaving. After a string of commercials, educational films ("Mickey's Safety Club"), occasional parts in TV series, a debut film role as Josh in Critters 3 (1991), a continuing role as the homeless boy Luke in the TV series "Growing Pains" (1985), he got his break-through part as Toby in This Boy's Life (1993), co-starring with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin.The part led the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics to name him runner-up for Best Supporting Actor. His first Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations came for the difficult role of Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). Equally challenging parts were a drug-troubled Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries (1995), the tormented homosexual poet Rimbaud in Total Eclipse (1995), and the angry teenage son of a harried mother in Marvin's Room (1996). He made a major impact with his starring role in a very updated Romeo + Juliet (1996). Superstardom came to DiCaprio playing Jack Dawson in Titanic (1997), highest grossing film ever, tied with Ben-Hur (1959) for most Academy Awards, though Leo himself was not nominated. His performance in the remake of The Man in the Iron Mask (1998/I) was poorly received, but the film still turned a profit. His next major film, The Beach (2000/I), was not a success, but he made another comeback in Catch Me If You Can (2002) and remains an A-list star.IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <>
Trivia
While filming The Beach (2000/I) off the coast of Thailand, Leonardo and others were swept off a camera boat by strong winds and waves. No one was injured. [16 April 1999]
His first publicity spot was about MILK.
Sues Playgirl magazine over plans to publish pictures --including full frontal nudity -- of himself. [March 1998]
Ranked #75 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Chosen by People Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." [1997]
Was considering starring in a movie about actor James Dean but turned down the role because he felt he wasn't experienced enough to do the film. [1996]
Screen tested for the part of Robin in Batman Forever (1995).
When five years old, he was in an educational TV program, called "Romper Room" (1953) and was nearly kicked off for uncontrollable behavior.
Chosen by People Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." [1998]
Father was a comicbook dealer.
Attended John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, California.
Has a stepbrother, Adam Farrar.
He and his family funded a state-of-the-art computer center at the Los Feliz branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, which was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
A Manhattan appeals court decided to go ahead with a $45 million lawsuit against DiCaprio by actor and screenwriter Roger Wilson for allegedly encouraging his friends in a street fight with Wilson over advances DiCaprio's friends made toward Wilson's girlfriend, Elizabeth Berkley. [2000]
At age 10, his agent advised him to change his name to a more American- friendly Lenny Williams. Needless to say, he did not follow that advice.
Was initially set to star as Alan Jensen in Harvard Man (2001), but the film's low budget could not afford to pay his salary, so he dropped out and Adrian Grenier took the lead.
Was set to star in American Psycho (2000) but had to drop it due to scheduling conflicts. Christian Bale took the part instead.
In January 1999, his lawyers filed an application to allow DiCaprio to copyright his own name.
Attended Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies before attending Marshall High
Attended Seeds Elementary School at UCLA where he took summer courses in performance art
Ranked #42 in Premiere's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #74 in 2002 and #60 in 2001.
Ranked #6 in Star TV's "Top 10 Box Office Stars of the 1990s" (2003).
Childhood friends with Tobey Maguire and the late Christopher Pettiet.
When his camera went missing, he offered a substantial reward of many thousands of pounds for its return. [November 2003]
Was once attached to star in American Psycho (2000) and was reputedly offered over $20 million for the role.
Openly supported John Kerry in the 2004 election. He went around 11 states and gave 20 speeches about the environment and how the Bush Administration has damaged it.
Was offered the role of the porn star Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights (1997) at around the same time as he was offered his role in Titanic (1997). The Dirk Diggler role eventually went to Mark Wahlberg.
Mentioned in an interview with Katie Couric that while filming The Aviator (2004), it brought back his own obsessive-compulsive disorder that he had as a child. (December 23, 2004).
He is an environmental conservationist and often advocates and supports natural causes.
Considered for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in _Spider-Man (2002)_.
Filed police charges after being attacked with a bottle by an animal-rights activist while leaving a nightclub in June 2005. Although the wound was very close to his jugular vein, it was not expected to delay production on his latest movie.
Of 3/4 German and 1/4 Italian descent. His paternal grandfather was an Italian immigrant
Won the role of Rimbaud in Total Eclipse (1995) after the death of actor River Phoenix in 1993.
Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson are his favorite actors.
He can speak a little German.
Boyfriend of Gisele Bündchen [2002-2005]
Was considered for the role of Anakin Skywalker for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002). But much to the relief of hardcore Star Wars fans, the role went to Hayden Christensen instead.
He and Jason Robards received Oscar-nominations for portraying Howard Hughes. Robards played Hughes in Melvin and Howard (1980) and Leonardo played him in The Aviator (2004)
Was originally cast in The Good Shepherd (2006).
He and Gisele Bündchen were chosen by People Magazine as the "Most Beatiful Couple in the World", in 2004.
Very good friends with actress Kate Winslet.
He once said that playing Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) was "the most fun I've ever had".
Appeared in the television series "Parenthood" (1990), in the role originally played by Joaquin Phoenix. In the original film, Phoenix's grandfather is played by Jason Robards, who, like DiCaprio, has played Howard Hughes.
Good friends with Mark Wahlberg.
He purchased a 104-acre island off the coast of Belize in 2005 and plans to develop a resort with renewable energy sources. Purchase price for the island, Blackadore Caye, was estimated to be $1.75 million.
Good friends with Lukas Haas and Kevin Connolly.
His father Geoge is of half German, half Italian descent and his mother is German.
In 2006 in "The Independent", he named his ten favorite movies as: Ladri di biciclette (1948), Taxi Driver (1976), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), 8½ (1963), The Third Man (1949), Yojimbo (1961), Sunset Blvd. (1950), The Shining (1980) and East of Eden (1955).
Was cast in the lead role in Baz Luhrmann's doomed Alexander The Great-project.
In his childhood, he and his mother lived in poor neighborhoods in Los Angeles which he describes as "Ghettos of Hollywood".
Early in his career he appeared as a contestant on a game show called "Fun House" where stunts were performed - his involved trying to catch fish in a small pool with only his teeth.
Attended the same high school as Bo Barrett, Heidi Fleiss, Anne-Marie Johnson, and Julie Newmar.
His favorite food is pasta. His favorite drink is lemonade.
Refers to his German grandmother as "Oma".
Very close friends with Vincent Gallo.
Turned down Michael Pitt's role in The Dreamers (2003) because he felt he was too old to play a twenty-year-old student.
Was trained by renowned Hollywood Gun Coach Thell Reed, who has also trained such actors as: Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer, Edward Norton, Russell Crowe, Ben Foster and Girard Swan.
Has once said his favorite female performance is Gena Rowlands' Mabel Longhetti in A Woman Under the Influence (1974).
Has said his two favorite performances are Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) and James Dean's Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955).
Martin Scorsese is his favorite director.
Personal Quotes
The best thing about acting is that I get to lose myself in another character and actually get paid for it. It's a great outlet. As for myself, I'm not sure who I am. It seems that I change every day.
People want you to be a crazy, out-of-control teen brat. They want you miserable, just like them. They don't want heroes; what they want is to see you fall.
On working with Martin Scorsese in Gangs of New York (2002): "He's a perfectionist, obsessed with detail. That's why he went over budget and over schedule."
You can either be a vain movie star, or you can try to shed some light on different aspects of the human condition.
It's a really obvious thing to say, but the more people know too much about who you really are, and it's a fundamental thing, the more the mystery is taken away from the artist, and the harder it is for people to believe that person in a particular role.
On fame: "As soon as enough people give you enough compliments and you're wielding more power than you've ever had in your life, it's not that you become an arrogant little prick, or become rude to people ... but you get a false sense of your own importance and what you've accomplished. You actually think you've altered the course of history."
I don't really have many extravagances. I don't fly private jets and I don't have bodyguards and I don't buy crazy things. I have a couple of houses here and there. I bought a very expensive watch, and I am going to buy a really expensive movie poster, the original for The Thief of Bagdad (1940). I love movie posters.
On turning 30: "I kind of feel like the same person except more time has gone by. I hate to say that I feel like an adult now. I have to admit I wish I was still 18. After all, even through the time while I was representing that wild kid, I really wasn't. I was just living my life. I was just not making movies at the time."
On Martin Scorsese: "Martin has brought so much to the art form of film, and he is not the type of person who would be upset by not receiving an Oscar, although it is a practical joke that he has not won an Academy Award after all these years. Whatever opinions critics will have of The Aviator (2004), I really think that this is a great piece of art: once again, he has made a great classic film."
The great thing about turning 30 in this business is that you get to perpetuate being young or old as long as we want.
On whether there are any aspects of fame he dislikes: "You kidding? I feel very fortunate. A lot of people would love to be in my position. There are so many people out there who are suffering trillions of times more than I could ever suffer, and would love to be me. I am a lucky little bastard."
Yes, I can play younger than my age. But I can play characters older than I am, too. I'm not an actor who can just play the kid.
I think people read the tabloids because they want to see you eating a burger, or out of your makeup or doing something stupid because they just want to see that you're like everyone else. And that's OK. I don't want to catch myself anymore saying that my life is hard, because the good far outweighs the bad in my life. And it's easier to focus on those things, on the things that are important.
You learn after you've been in the business for a while that it's not getting your face recognized that's the payoff. It's having your film remembered.
I lived in Hollywood and, ironically, I didn't know you could just go out and get an agent and go on auditions and try and become an actor, I thought it was like a Masonic thing, like a blood line you had to belong to - until I was 13. Then I realised what you had to do. It is the one thing I know I want to do for the rest of my life.
"I wasn't surprised that Jamie got the award. But I knew that cameras would be stuffed up my face so I had my response ready. Anyone who says they don't practice is a liar." -on losing out on the Oscar to Jamie Foxx during the 2005 Academy Awards.
"I was behind a woman at the checkout counter who was looking at the magazines. She turned to me and goes, 'There he is again, that Leonardo DiCaprio. Don't you wish he'd just disappear?' I said (to myself), this is the moment where I either go, 'Do you know who I am?' or put my hat further down, pay for my corn-nuts and get out of there....I choose to avoid that." (2005)
My first date was with a girl named Cessi. We'd had a beautiful relationship over the phone all summer long. Then she came home and we met to go out for the first time to the movies. When I saw her I was petrified. I couldn't even look her in the eye to talk to her.
I don't know if I'm ever getting married. I'm probably not going to get married unless I live with somebody for 10 or 20 years. But these people took a chance and they did it. We don't have the guts that Romeo did.
As a little kid growing up in Hollywood, I was called 'a little crazy'. And now I guess I'm still that way.
I cheated a lot, because I just couldn't sit and do homework. I usually sat next to someone extremely smart.
I'm not really the quiet type, although some people think I am. But I'm the rebel type in the sense that I don't think I'm like everyone else. I try to be an individual.
I like to help the whales, the otters, and the dolphins. When I'm acting and I take a break, the first thing on my list is spending time by the sea.
I insist on keeping a level head. I've maintained the same exact home life that I've had for 20 years. All I see is more people looking at me than before. But, you know, who cares? You just can't obsess yourself with this fame stuff."
My mom and I lived at Hollywood and Western, a drug-dealer and prostitute corner. It was pretty terrifying. I got beat up a lot. I saw people have sex in the alleys. I remember I was 5 years old, and this guy with a trench coat, needles and crack cornered me. Early on, seeing the devastation on my block, seeing heroin addicts, made me think twice about ever getting involved in drugs. It's evil. Once you take that step and experiment, drugs can take over your life. You are not yourself anymore. That's something I never wanted. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up. It was kind of just me and my parents. But because of them, the neighborhood did not have a bad effect on me. My dad introduced me to artists, and every few months we'd go to some hippie doo-dah parade as Mudmen in our underwear, carrying sticks and covered in mud. My mother did everything to get me into the best schools she could find.
When a role for a young guy is being offered to me, I think of River Phoenix. It feels like a loss.
When I was young, I used to have this thing where I wanted to see everything. I used to think, 'How can I die without seeing every inch of this world?'
On his life: "What I would do in order to be popular was, I'd put myself on line and joke around and be funny, and I was always known as the crazy kid."
"Bridget Hall and I hung out for a week. The whole thing was blown out of proportion.
I don't have the guts that Romeo did. [on marriage]
On love: I like girls who are intelligent, somewhat funny, and pretty with a nice personality.
It's a weird adjustment living alone, because you don't realize how much you really miss Mumsie until she's not there.
Dark green is my favorite color. It's the color of nature and the color of money and the color of moss!
I'm not really the quiet type, although some people think I am. But I'm the rebel type in the sense that I don't think I'm like everyone else. I try to be an individual.
I'm absolutely clean. I've never tried anything. That's not a lie!
I'm not the sort of person who tries to be cool or trendy. I'm definitely an individual.
I don't have emotions about a lot of things. I rarely get angry, I rarely cry. I guess I do get excited a lot, but I don't get sad and enormously happy. I think a lot of people who talk about all that crap are lying. Right now I'm just trying to maintain happiness - that's all I really care about. Anyway, when you're my age and your hormones are kicking in, there's not much besides sex that's on your mind.
I hate speaking in front of a large audience. I don't know where it came from...but its just this gut-wrenching fear of slipping up and doing something horrible.
One of my passions is to meet people and then imitate them. I love doing that.
I have the same problem as Edward Furlong. I'm so thin!
I'm nothing like Romeo in real life.
I'm shy, but when the time comes to be wild, I'm fun-loving, adventurous, and mysterious.
It's tricky stuff. If you're not perfect in every film, then people say 'see, he was just lucky in one role'.
On his career: "I admit I've done a few lousy roles in the beginning of my career, like my role in Critters 3 (1991). But at that age, you'll do anything for attention!"
People want you to be a crazy out-of-control teen brat. They want you to be miserable, just like them. They don't want heroes. What they want is to see you fall.
Everywhere I go, somebody is staring at me. I don't know if people are staring because they recognize me or because they think I'm a weirdo.
On rumors: I've heard some pretty bad rumors...that I'm gay. If I want to go to a party with a few male friends, it doesn't mean that I'm gay. I don't see why I can't have friends of both sexes without rumors being spread about me. It's crazy.
People always like to make up stories. I am not planning on getting married. Then again, I might wake up tomorrow and decide to get married!
If you hear of any incident about me - a fight, a change of clothes, a little extra gel in the hair, don't believe it till you talk to me.
I hate being selected as 'Babe of the Month' and being called 'hunk'.
Fame is not the worst thing. I went to dinner the other night, and the girls in the restaurant ignored me. It was so annoying.
I insist on keeping a level head. I've maintained the same exact home life that I've had for 20 years. All I see is more people looking at me than before. But, you know, who cares? You just can't obsess yourself with this fame stuff.
My God, no! I hate this whole hunk thing! I feel when I see myself in that, and these other cute faces, that I'm just part of this meat factory, like, 'Wow! Here's the hunk of the month! This month we're shoving Leonardo DiCaprio down your throat! Isn't he cute. Let's put him on the cover and we'll sell so many more magazines...' That's definitely not what I want to be, and I've tried real hard to get away from that whole situation.
If you can do what you do best and be happy, you're further along in life than most people.
The main thing for me right now is just to live my life with my family and friends. They treat me like Leo, not 'Leonardo, Master Thespian'. That's all I need to keep my sanity.
The last thing I want to turn into is a fat Hollywood jerk. I was brought up without much money and I was happy. I don't think that I will strive for money or success and end up greedy or big-headed. That only leads to unhappiness. I can still be down-to-earth and do this job as long as I enjoy it.
On success: "I've just been jolting along from one film to another. . . . Now, it's sort of a shock to realize what I've achieved."
Portraying emotionally ill characters gives me the chance to really act.
I'm just starting to scratch the surface of what makes me happy, and it has taken me a while to admit that acting like a child and a jerk is fun.
On acting: "Don't think for a moment that I'm really like any of the characters I play. That's why it's called acting."
"It was pretty disheartening to be objectified like that. I wanted to stop acting for a little bit. But it changed my life in a lot of ways, but at the same time, I can't say that it didn't give me opportunities. It made me, for the first time, in control of my career." - On Titanic (1997)
A consensus has emerged in our scientific community that global warming is no longer merely a theory but a reality, a crisis with truly global implications for planet Earth and all of us who share it. - Told to thousands at the New Jersey concert for Live Earth
Salary
Blood Diamond (2006)
$20,000,000
The Departed (2006)
$20,000,000
The Aviator (2004)
$20,000,000
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
$20,000,000
Gangs of New York (2002)
$10,000,000 + Gross Points
The Beach (2000/I)
$20,000,000
Titanic (1997)
$2,500,000
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
$1,000,000
Leonardo Di Caprio Movies
SYNOPSIS
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Howard Hughes, who went from wealthy Texas heir — he inherited his father's tool company — to billionaire tycoon. The film follows his career through the late 1920s and into the 1940s, when Hughes directed and produced films and developed innovative airplanes, all while romancing Hollywood starlets.
Leonardo Di Caprio - Golden Globe Awards
OVERVIEW
MPAA RatingPG-13 - for thematic elements, sexual content, nudity, language and crash sequenceGenre(s)Drama, Biography, HistoricalRunning Time166 minutesStarringLeonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin Director(s)Martin ScorseseWriter(s)John LoganReleaseWide Release
Leonardo Di Caprio as Howard Hughes
However conventional Martin Scorsese might be in directing the biopic about Mr. Hughes, he wisely chooses key incidents (set down by scripter John Logan) in the man's life to give us new insight into what makes one of the most interesting figures of the 20th Century tick. A Renaissance man who. having early on inherited a dominant position in his deceased father's prospering tool business, he refuses to spend his life making mundane implements but instead takes great risks that threaten to bankrupt him should his grandiose ideas not pan out–as they often do not. Fascinated by Hollywood particularly at a time that sound features are coming out for the first time, Hughes directs a World War I epic in 1930 called "Hell's Angels," a slow-moving corny story that introduces the world to Jean Harlow, a movie until then unmatched for visual spectacle. His "Scarface" introduced Pul Muni to the screen while "The Outlaw" in 1941 featured Jane Russell in a role that has Hughes face a panel of motion picture censors concerned about the extensive "mammaries" of the celebrated actress.His activities in buying the RKO Pictures Corporation are skipped over by Scorcese to give the film audience time to watch the man in action as the founder of the Hughes Aircraft Company, personally flying to set a landplane speed record of 352 miles per hour, then lowering the transcontinental flight time record to 7 hours 28 minutes. Ultimately he would work on an eight-engine, wooden flying boat intended to carry 750 passengers, piloting the machine personally in 1947 for one mile.Key scenes in Scorsese's film at times glorify this larger-than-life figure, making us in the audience root for him when he lands in conflict with those out to crush his company (by now he had purchased TWA) and his spirit. The film is dominated by two major aspects of his adult life: 1) his affairs with Hollywood actresses Katherine Hepburn and Ava Gardner; 2) his fanatical energy both in coming up with ideas and trying to put them into operation.In the role of Howard Hughes, Leonardo Di Caprio presumably hopes to pick up an Oscar trophy but which, though more than competently performed falls short of the kind of imaginative leap and sympathetic pull on the audience that can be attributed to, say, Don Cheadle as the hotel manager who saves 1,200 members of the Tutsi tribe from Hutu massacre in "Hotel Rwanda." Occasionally shown in extreme close-up, Di Caprio's Hughes comes off as a man whose eyes flash the fire of one possessed, an impatient businessman given to shake his legs impatiently when seated and, strangely enough in two instances to repeat the same words over and over at least a dozen times when he appears not to be under any particular stress. In fact the man comes off best when questioned by the chairman of U.S. Senate committee led by the senator from Maine (played winningly by the always excellent Alan Alda), speaking clearly and strongly without the aid of a lawyer in getting the spectators on his side when accused by the senator of war profiteering.
The Aviator - poster
Scorsese also shows Hughes' fascination with liberated women who come off just short of being attainable. Cate Blanchett in the role of Katherine Hepburn speaks boldly to Hughes as she beats him at golf: close your eyes and listen to her voice and you'd swear that Blanchett is merely lip-synching the words of Hepburn herself. The film's best comic scene takes place in Hepburn's home where each member of her eccentric, extended family blathers on at dinner about a subject of his or her own choosing without focus. When one diner expresses the view that "we don't care about money," Hughes replies, "That's because you have it," an obvious retort but one which does not go over too well with these Connecticut aristocrats.
After Hepburn dumps Hughes because she is in love with the already married Spencer Tracy, he meets his match in an even stronger-willed Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) who, insisting that she is "not for sale" refuses his offer of one of the most exotic sapphire necklaces ever made. "You can buy me dinner," sums her up, but despite her penchant for putting Hughes off, she turns up when the man needs support the most–when holed up in his home, adhesive tape setting the boundaries of almost every square inch to delineate a "germ-free zone.""The Aviator," which also features Alec Baldwin as the dapper owner of Pan Am seeking to buy Hughes's TWA and John C. Reilly taking care of the business end, is a must-see for students and holders of Master's degrees in Business Administration and by extension for major executives everywhere. Whether it can be sold in the youth market given how young people seem to make heroes out of Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan, is an arguable point, but surely "The Aviator," which, if ever shown on airlines will surely cut a segment that finds Hughes severely injured in a graphically shown crash of his Hercules plane, is a mature, professionally made film, well cast and showing off John Logan's often crackling dialogue–an epic adventure and a solid entry into the film world for the year 2004.
Now He's The King of the Skies!'
His name allegedly derives from his German mother Irmalin's having experienced a sudden kick from her unborn boy while enjoying a DaVinci painting at the Uffizi! In the year following his birth, she and his Italian father George were divorced. He grew up in Echo Park, then a particularly seedy, drug-dominated area of Los Angeles. At five he appeared on his favorite TV show, 'Romper Room,' and was nearly thrown off for misbehaving!
The Aviator - Leonardo Di Caprio takes to the skies
After a string of commercials, educational films ('Mickey's Safety Club'), occasional parts in TV series, a debut film role as Josh in 'Critters 3' (1991), a continuing role as the homeless boy Luke in the TV series 'Growing Pains,' he got his break-through part as Toby in 'This Boy's Life' (1993), co-starring with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin. The part led the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics to name him runner-up for Best Supporting Actor.
His first Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations came for the difficult role of Arnie in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' (1993). Equally challenging parts were a drug-troubled Jim Carroll in 'The Basketball Diaries' (1995), the tormented homosexual poet Rimbaud in 'Total Eclipse' (1995) and the male lead in a very updated 'Romeo + Juliet' (1996). True superstardom came to DiCaprio playing Jack Dawson in 'Titanic' in 1997.
Chatting with the young man this afternoon, he is noticably tired due to the premiere last night of his new film, 'The Aviator' - in which the actor assumes the role of the young and complex Howard Hughes. Wearing a black t-shirt, black casual jacket, with his hair slicked back, the perennially youthful 30-year old star, has remained intensely passionate about bringing Hughes' life to the screen for several years. "As an actor, you're constantly searching for that great character," DiCaprio explains, when asked why the fascination for Hughes.
"Also, being a history buff and learning about people in our past and amazing things that they've done, I came across a book about Howard Hughes and he was set up as basically, the most multi-dimensional character I could ever come across. Often, people have tried to define him in biographies, but no one seems to be able to categorize him. He was one of the most complicated men of the last century and so I got this book, brought it to Michael Mann and John Logan came onboard and really came up with the concept, saying, 'you can do ten different movies about Howard Hughes. Let's focus on his younger years.
Let's watch his initial descent into madness but meanwhile, have the backdrop of early Hollywood, these daring pioneers in the world of aviation that were like astronauts that went out and went out and risked their lives to further the cause of aviation. [He was] the first American billionaire who had all the resources in the world but was somehow unable to find any sense of peace of happiness'. It's that great see-saw act in the movie that goes on. On one side, he's having all the successes in the world and on the other side the tiny microbes and germs are the things that are taking him downwards."
What level of admiration do you have for this great man?
"I think he certainly took things farther than I could ever imagine," the actor insists. "He was such an obsessed human being and remained so obsessive about everything he'd gotten involved with, whether it be planes, women or films, he made."
While DiCaprio has remained as ferociously guarded about his private life as Hughes was intensely shy, the actor says those two apparent parallels are miles apart from each other. "I have to say, that for the most part, I am a pretty private person while his came from a genuine mental disorder and I'm just fundamentally not like that. My reasons for being a private person are different from Mr. Hughes, in that because I'm an actor and want people to believe me in different roles and not necessarily know way too much about me. I want to be around in the business for a long time, while he had an intense fear of being around people and germs."
While 'The Aviator' is a film about the early youthful ambitions of Howard Hughes, when it comes to DiCaprio's own childhood dreams and obsessions, the actor says there was really only one, "... ever since I got into this business at around 13 years old and that was to be in this business forever. Once I did my first television commercial, I caught that itch, that bug, and said, it is possible to make a living doing this for the rest of my life, that is the only thing I really want to do. He had multiple dreams. I look at film and cinema as legitimate an art form as sculpture, painting or anything else. We're in the first hundred years of cinema, which is still in its infancy and I'm very curious to see what types of films last into the next thousand years, just like what paintings people still look at. I want to be a part of pieces of art as far as cinema is concerned, that people will want to see for generations to come."
Who was one of your greatest influences during your formative years?
"I remember the casting session that I had where I was a break dancer, having this punk hair cut. They rejected me and I became really disillusioned with the business and said well this is what it's all about, and I haven't even got in to read a line. My father said don't worry, some day we're going to get you back into this and it's going to happen for you, which I kind of took to heart," DiCaprio recalls. "It was one of those situations where I was lucky and fortunate enough to be at the right places at the right time", he adds, referring to his early television breaks that included the likes of 'Parenthood' and 'Growing Pains.' "All of a sudden I was on the set of 'Growing Pains' and got this audition for 'This Boy's Life' and was able to jump into the feature film world. It's really been just simply the fact that I'd been able to work, you know what I mean? I would probably still be trying to be an actor even if I was out of work, but I would probably become a little disillusioned at some point and move on to other things. But it's the one thing that I know that I love."
As for future projects, DiCaprio says they do not include 'Alexander the Great,' which at one time was going to be a Scorsese project. "Alexander The Great was one of those things where Scorsese and I just share the same taste in similar things. We were both fascinated with Alexander The Great as well as Howard Hughes. They're completely different time periods and different men, but similar dynamics, men that keep on reaching for their ultimate goal and stop at nothing until they achieve that. It just happened to be that this script and project was way further advanced in the development stage than the script that landed in our lap from 'Alexander' and we wanted to go forth - we had an intention at one time of doing them both, but you don't get everything you want all the time."
Director Martin Scorsese puts the disappointment of Gangs Of New York behind him to breathe life into complex American playboy Howard Hughes.
A legend in American history, the range and depth of his character needed a resourceful actor to capture his essence - Leonardo DiCaprio. Only lingering on Hughes' childhood to cast light on his cleanliness obsession (his mother terrified him with tales of cholera), Scorsese skilfully sketches in the character of the man courtesy of his sideline as movie producer.
So we see the young movie mogul blowing millions on the World War I flying feature Hell's Angels, badgering a rival studio for cameras and ordering Ian Holm's meteorologist to "find clouds". The movie had to be re-shot to accommodate the new-fangled soundtrack and also cost the lives of three stunt pilotsbut proved a box office smash. Unencumbered by doubt and driven by an uncompromising quest for perfection, the obsessive maverick would go on to apply his obsessive standards to the Hughes Aircraft Company, and subsequently TWA.
The aircraft-obsessed mogul also enjoyed a high-flying personal life, squiring the likes of Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow and Bette Davis. The spikily intelligent Katharine Hepburn (Blanchett, superb) is the irascible love of his life, while Kate Beckinsale gives good hair-toss as Ava Gardner. Focused and beautifully paced, this doesn't disappoint visually, with some stunningly shot aerial shots, particularly Hughes' roof-tile shattering crash-landing in the Hollywood Hills. Hughes was such a larger-than-life character that he needed a director with larger-than-life skills to capture his spirit. Scorsese is well up to the task.
THE AVIATOR
(Cinematografo.it/Adnkronos) - The Aviator è il miglior film del 2004. A incoronare il kolossal di Martin Scorsese sulla vita del miliardario produttore Howard Hughes è stata la Conferenza Episcopale degli Stati Uniti (Usccb) che ha premiato, oltre al valore dell'opera, l'impegno del regista nel diffondere un messaggio allo stesso tempo didattico e ludico. Nella top ten stilata dalla Usccb compare, all'ottavo posto, anche il discusso film di Mel Gibson sulle ultime 12 ore di vita di Gesù, La Passione di Cristo.
Drame biographique réalisé par Martin Scorsese. Avec Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilley, Kate Beckinsale.ÇA RACONTE : Les 20 premières années de la carrière professionnelle du milliardaire Howard Hughes, passionné de cinéma, d'aviation, et de femmes.ON NOTE : Tournée en grande partie à Montréal, cette imposante production est née grâce à l'entêtement de Leonardo DiCaprio qui, après avoir travaillé un temps avec le cinéaste Michael Mann, a ensuite fait appel à Martin Scorsese (celui-là même qui l'a dirigé dans Gangs of New York) pour assurer la réalisation de ce drame biographique. Un parfum de l'Hollywood des années de gloire.FR : * * * *
Howard Hughes and the Spruce Goose
Di Caprio Flying High
Leonardo DiCaprio/The Aviator Interview by Paul Fischer in Los Angeles.
Leonardo Di Caprio apologised for appearing so tired. "It was the premiere last night", he says, with a sheepish grin, referring to the screening of The Aviator, in which the actor assumes the role of the young and complex Howard Hughes Wearing a black t-shirt, black casual jacket, with his hair slicked back, the perennially youthful 30-year old star, has remained intensely passionate about bringing Hughes' life to the screen for several years. "As an actor, you're constantly searching for that great character,"Di Caprio explains, when asked why the fascination for Hughes. "Also, being a history buff and learning about people in our past and amazing things that they've done, I came across a book about Howard Hughes and he was set up as basically, the most multi-dimensional character I could ever come across. Often, people have tried to define him in biographies, but no one seems to be able to categorize him.
He was one of the most complicated men of the last century and so I got this book, brought it to Michael Mann and John Logan came onboard and really came up with the concept, saying, 'you can do ten different movies about Howard Hughes. Let's focus on his younger years. Let's watch his initial descent into madness but meanwhile, have the backdrop of early Hollywood, these daring pioneers in the world of aviation that were like astronauts that went out and went out and risked their lives to further the cause of aviation. [He was] the first American billionaire who had all the resources in the world but was somehow unable to find any sense of peace of happiness'. It's that great see-saw act in the movie that goes on. On one side, he's having all the successes in the world and on the other side the tiny microbes and germs are the things that are taking him downwards."
Di Caprio says that while there are parallels between himself and Hughes, "I think he certainly took things farther than I could ever imagine," the actor insists. He was such an obsessed human being and remained so obsessive about everything he'd gotten involved with, whether it be planes, women or films, he made." While Di Caprio has remained as ferociously guarded about his private life ass Hughes was intensely shy, the actor says those two apparent parallels are miles apart from each other. "I have to say, that for the most part, I am a pretty private person while his came from a genuine mental disorder and I'm just fundamentally not like that. My reasons for being a private person are different from Mr. Hughes, in that because I'm an actor and want people to believe me in different roles and not necessarily know way too much about me. I want to be around in the business for a long time, while he had an intense fear of being around people and germs."
But is Hughes' celebrity that still offers a certain degree of parallel in the young life of Di Caprio, but while Hughes' female conquests remain fascinating as an almost historical legacy for Hughes, Di Caprio laughs when asked about his own place in history when he dates someone. "No, those aren't my intentions going into a relationship," and unlike Howard, Di Capriois not a collector of women. "I honestly feel that as much as he had love and adoration for these women and genuinely cared for them, he kind of looked at them like airplanes. He was a technical genius and obsessed with finding the new, faster, bigger airplane," he adds, laughingly, "and that was simultaneous with women. He was constantly finding the new hotter female to go out with, which all related back to him being orphaned at a very young age and having this empty hole in his soul, which I think he was always trying to fill with new, more exciting things in his life. He ended up, obviously, not a very happy person. I don't know if he was think about whether, historically, he was going to become a legend. I'm sure he had that sort of cat and mouse things going on in his mind where he wanted to be famous but it was more like 'look at me! Look at me! No, don't look at me'."
Dreams do not come true to all who have such lofty ambitions, and in an industry riddled with rejection, the actor says that his father was a great influences during his formative years. "I remember the casting session that I had where I was a break dancer, having this punk hair cut. They rejected me and I became really disillusioned with the business and said well this is what it's all about, and I haven't even got in to read a line.
Leonardo Di Caprio and Cate Blanchett
26 January 2005Scorsese's 'The Aviator' takes off with 11 Oscar nominations
BEVERLY HILLS, California : "The Aviator" soared high above Tuesday's Oscar nominations, snatching 11 nods, including best picture, best actor and best director for the epic story of US billionaire Howard Hughes.In a year dominated by real-life stories but filled with few surprises, the film dominated the nominations for the 77th annual Academy Awards when they were unveiled by Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and Oscars chief Frank Pierson at a pre-dawn ceremony.Tying for second place in cinema's great race were "Finding Neverland," the story of Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, and Clint Eastwood's drama "Million Dollar Baby," with seven nods each, including best picture.Red-hot star Jamie Foxx, 37, became the early leader in the best actor competition after winning an expected nomination for his acclaimed performance as blind soul legend Ray Charles in "Ray.""The Aviator" snagged a best actor nod for "Titanic" heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio in his role as the eccentric Hughes, best director for long-overlooked Martin Scorsese and best supporting actor nominations for Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn and for Alan Alda."'The Aviator' is flying high and is hoping to become the first movie about Hollywood to win Hollywood's top award," awards pundit Tom O'Neil told AFP of the 110-million-dollar picture.The film also picked up nods for best cinematography, costume design, art direction, film editing, sound mixing and original screenplay."Bringing 'The Aviator' to the screen took years of effort by an extraordinary group of individuals," Scorsese said in a statement, adding that he wwas thrilled at the recognition.Historically, the film that led the Oscar nominations has gone on to win the best picture statuette in 18 of the last 20 years.Following "Aviator," "Neverland" and "Baby" in the nomination stakes were "Ray," with six nods, including best picture, best actor for Foxx and best director for Taylor Hackford; the bittersweet California road movie "Sideways," with five, including best picture and best director for Alexander Payne; and Disney-Pixar's animated "The Incredibles," with four.Four out of the five best actor nominees played real-life characters, including Foxx, DiCaprio, Johnny Depp as J.M. Barrie and Don Cheadle as hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in the genocide drama "Hotel Rwanda."The only one to play a fictional character was veteran screen icon Eastwood, 74, who won a nod for his role as tough old boxing coach Frankie Dunn in "Baby," for which he also won a best director nomination.But Liam Neeson missed out on a nod for his role as a famed sexologist in "Kinsey," and "Sideways" star Paul Giamatti was also notably snubbed.The competition is stiff for best actress, as previous Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, nominated this year for her role as a tragic female boxer in "Baby," faces off against Annette Bening for her portrayal of an aging actress in "Being Julia."They are pitted against Britons Imelda Staunton, for the 1950s abortion saga "Vera Drake," and Kate Winslet, for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," as well as Catalina Sandino Moreno, for the Spanish-language drug-running story "Maria Full of Grace."Swank, 30, won the best actress Oscar for playing a sexually conflicted woman in 1999's "Boys Don't Cry."A heavyweight lineup also dominates this year's directing race, with Eastwood facing off against "Taxi Driver" filmmaker Scorsese, 62, Hackford, Payne and "Vera Drake" filmmaker Mike Leigh. "Neverland" director Marc Forster was shut out.Scorsese, who has been nominated for a total of six Oscars in the past but has never won, is tipped as the favourite in the category.Foxx won a second nod as best supporting actor for the Tom Cruise thriller "Collateral," becoming only the 10th actor to be recognised in both categories in the same year.He is now locked in a showdown for best supporting actor with Thomas Haden Church for "Sideways," Alda for "The Aviator," Morgan Freeman for "Million Dollar Baby" and Briton Clive Owen for the sexual intrigue "Closer."Australia's Blanchett won a best supporting actress nod for playing screen legend Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator," joining Britain's Sophie Okonedo for "Hotel Rwanda," Laura Linney for "Kinsey," Virginia Madsen for "Sideways" and Natalie Portman for "Closer."Human tragedy pervaded the best foreign-language film category, with Spain's "The Sea Inside," a drama about a paraplegic's fight to die, and South Africa's AIDS drama "Yesterday" leading the nominations.They face competition from France's "Les Choristes," Germany's "Downfall," a recreation of the last days of Adolf Hitler, and "As It Is In Heaven," from Sweden's Kay Pollak.The Oscar nominations formally shift Tinseltown's annual awards season into high gear as studios and stars jostle to win the hearts of the 5,800 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters.The 2005 golden statuettes will be handed out at a glittering ceremony in Hollywood on February 27
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Howard Hughes, who went from wealthy Texas heir — he inherited his father's tool company — to billionaire tycoon. The film follows his career through the late 1920s and into the 1940s, when Hughes directed and produced films and developed innovative airplanes, all while romancing Hollywood starlets.
Leonardo Di Caprio - Golden Globe Awards
OVERVIEW
MPAA RatingPG-13 - for thematic elements, sexual content, nudity, language and crash sequenceGenre(s)Drama, Biography, HistoricalRunning Time166 minutesStarringLeonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin Director(s)Martin ScorseseWriter(s)John LoganReleaseWide Release
Leonardo Di Caprio as Howard Hughes
However conventional Martin Scorsese might be in directing the biopic about Mr. Hughes, he wisely chooses key incidents (set down by scripter John Logan) in the man's life to give us new insight into what makes one of the most interesting figures of the 20th Century tick. A Renaissance man who. having early on inherited a dominant position in his deceased father's prospering tool business, he refuses to spend his life making mundane implements but instead takes great risks that threaten to bankrupt him should his grandiose ideas not pan out–as they often do not. Fascinated by Hollywood particularly at a time that sound features are coming out for the first time, Hughes directs a World War I epic in 1930 called "Hell's Angels," a slow-moving corny story that introduces the world to Jean Harlow, a movie until then unmatched for visual spectacle. His "Scarface" introduced Pul Muni to the screen while "The Outlaw" in 1941 featured Jane Russell in a role that has Hughes face a panel of motion picture censors concerned about the extensive "mammaries" of the celebrated actress.His activities in buying the RKO Pictures Corporation are skipped over by Scorcese to give the film audience time to watch the man in action as the founder of the Hughes Aircraft Company, personally flying to set a landplane speed record of 352 miles per hour, then lowering the transcontinental flight time record to 7 hours 28 minutes. Ultimately he would work on an eight-engine, wooden flying boat intended to carry 750 passengers, piloting the machine personally in 1947 for one mile.Key scenes in Scorsese's film at times glorify this larger-than-life figure, making us in the audience root for him when he lands in conflict with those out to crush his company (by now he had purchased TWA) and his spirit. The film is dominated by two major aspects of his adult life: 1) his affairs with Hollywood actresses Katherine Hepburn and Ava Gardner; 2) his fanatical energy both in coming up with ideas and trying to put them into operation.In the role of Howard Hughes, Leonardo Di Caprio presumably hopes to pick up an Oscar trophy but which, though more than competently performed falls short of the kind of imaginative leap and sympathetic pull on the audience that can be attributed to, say, Don Cheadle as the hotel manager who saves 1,200 members of the Tutsi tribe from Hutu massacre in "Hotel Rwanda." Occasionally shown in extreme close-up, Di Caprio's Hughes comes off as a man whose eyes flash the fire of one possessed, an impatient businessman given to shake his legs impatiently when seated and, strangely enough in two instances to repeat the same words over and over at least a dozen times when he appears not to be under any particular stress. In fact the man comes off best when questioned by the chairman of U.S. Senate committee led by the senator from Maine (played winningly by the always excellent Alan Alda), speaking clearly and strongly without the aid of a lawyer in getting the spectators on his side when accused by the senator of war profiteering.
The Aviator - poster
Scorsese also shows Hughes' fascination with liberated women who come off just short of being attainable. Cate Blanchett in the role of Katherine Hepburn speaks boldly to Hughes as she beats him at golf: close your eyes and listen to her voice and you'd swear that Blanchett is merely lip-synching the words of Hepburn herself. The film's best comic scene takes place in Hepburn's home where each member of her eccentric, extended family blathers on at dinner about a subject of his or her own choosing without focus. When one diner expresses the view that "we don't care about money," Hughes replies, "That's because you have it," an obvious retort but one which does not go over too well with these Connecticut aristocrats.
After Hepburn dumps Hughes because she is in love with the already married Spencer Tracy, he meets his match in an even stronger-willed Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) who, insisting that she is "not for sale" refuses his offer of one of the most exotic sapphire necklaces ever made. "You can buy me dinner," sums her up, but despite her penchant for putting Hughes off, she turns up when the man needs support the most–when holed up in his home, adhesive tape setting the boundaries of almost every square inch to delineate a "germ-free zone.""The Aviator," which also features Alec Baldwin as the dapper owner of Pan Am seeking to buy Hughes's TWA and John C. Reilly taking care of the business end, is a must-see for students and holders of Master's degrees in Business Administration and by extension for major executives everywhere. Whether it can be sold in the youth market given how young people seem to make heroes out of Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan, is an arguable point, but surely "The Aviator," which, if ever shown on airlines will surely cut a segment that finds Hughes severely injured in a graphically shown crash of his Hercules plane, is a mature, professionally made film, well cast and showing off John Logan's often crackling dialogue–an epic adventure and a solid entry into the film world for the year 2004.
Now He's The King of the Skies!'
His name allegedly derives from his German mother Irmalin's having experienced a sudden kick from her unborn boy while enjoying a DaVinci painting at the Uffizi! In the year following his birth, she and his Italian father George were divorced. He grew up in Echo Park, then a particularly seedy, drug-dominated area of Los Angeles. At five he appeared on his favorite TV show, 'Romper Room,' and was nearly thrown off for misbehaving!
The Aviator - Leonardo Di Caprio takes to the skies
After a string of commercials, educational films ('Mickey's Safety Club'), occasional parts in TV series, a debut film role as Josh in 'Critters 3' (1991), a continuing role as the homeless boy Luke in the TV series 'Growing Pains,' he got his break-through part as Toby in 'This Boy's Life' (1993), co-starring with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin. The part led the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics to name him runner-up for Best Supporting Actor.
His first Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations came for the difficult role of Arnie in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' (1993). Equally challenging parts were a drug-troubled Jim Carroll in 'The Basketball Diaries' (1995), the tormented homosexual poet Rimbaud in 'Total Eclipse' (1995) and the male lead in a very updated 'Romeo + Juliet' (1996). True superstardom came to DiCaprio playing Jack Dawson in 'Titanic' in 1997.
Chatting with the young man this afternoon, he is noticably tired due to the premiere last night of his new film, 'The Aviator' - in which the actor assumes the role of the young and complex Howard Hughes. Wearing a black t-shirt, black casual jacket, with his hair slicked back, the perennially youthful 30-year old star, has remained intensely passionate about bringing Hughes' life to the screen for several years. "As an actor, you're constantly searching for that great character," DiCaprio explains, when asked why the fascination for Hughes.
"Also, being a history buff and learning about people in our past and amazing things that they've done, I came across a book about Howard Hughes and he was set up as basically, the most multi-dimensional character I could ever come across. Often, people have tried to define him in biographies, but no one seems to be able to categorize him. He was one of the most complicated men of the last century and so I got this book, brought it to Michael Mann and John Logan came onboard and really came up with the concept, saying, 'you can do ten different movies about Howard Hughes. Let's focus on his younger years.
Let's watch his initial descent into madness but meanwhile, have the backdrop of early Hollywood, these daring pioneers in the world of aviation that were like astronauts that went out and went out and risked their lives to further the cause of aviation. [He was] the first American billionaire who had all the resources in the world but was somehow unable to find any sense of peace of happiness'. It's that great see-saw act in the movie that goes on. On one side, he's having all the successes in the world and on the other side the tiny microbes and germs are the things that are taking him downwards."
What level of admiration do you have for this great man?
"I think he certainly took things farther than I could ever imagine," the actor insists. "He was such an obsessed human being and remained so obsessive about everything he'd gotten involved with, whether it be planes, women or films, he made."
While DiCaprio has remained as ferociously guarded about his private life as Hughes was intensely shy, the actor says those two apparent parallels are miles apart from each other. "I have to say, that for the most part, I am a pretty private person while his came from a genuine mental disorder and I'm just fundamentally not like that. My reasons for being a private person are different from Mr. Hughes, in that because I'm an actor and want people to believe me in different roles and not necessarily know way too much about me. I want to be around in the business for a long time, while he had an intense fear of being around people and germs."
While 'The Aviator' is a film about the early youthful ambitions of Howard Hughes, when it comes to DiCaprio's own childhood dreams and obsessions, the actor says there was really only one, "... ever since I got into this business at around 13 years old and that was to be in this business forever. Once I did my first television commercial, I caught that itch, that bug, and said, it is possible to make a living doing this for the rest of my life, that is the only thing I really want to do. He had multiple dreams. I look at film and cinema as legitimate an art form as sculpture, painting or anything else. We're in the first hundred years of cinema, which is still in its infancy and I'm very curious to see what types of films last into the next thousand years, just like what paintings people still look at. I want to be a part of pieces of art as far as cinema is concerned, that people will want to see for generations to come."
Who was one of your greatest influences during your formative years?
"I remember the casting session that I had where I was a break dancer, having this punk hair cut. They rejected me and I became really disillusioned with the business and said well this is what it's all about, and I haven't even got in to read a line. My father said don't worry, some day we're going to get you back into this and it's going to happen for you, which I kind of took to heart," DiCaprio recalls. "It was one of those situations where I was lucky and fortunate enough to be at the right places at the right time", he adds, referring to his early television breaks that included the likes of 'Parenthood' and 'Growing Pains.' "All of a sudden I was on the set of 'Growing Pains' and got this audition for 'This Boy's Life' and was able to jump into the feature film world. It's really been just simply the fact that I'd been able to work, you know what I mean? I would probably still be trying to be an actor even if I was out of work, but I would probably become a little disillusioned at some point and move on to other things. But it's the one thing that I know that I love."
As for future projects, DiCaprio says they do not include 'Alexander the Great,' which at one time was going to be a Scorsese project. "Alexander The Great was one of those things where Scorsese and I just share the same taste in similar things. We were both fascinated with Alexander The Great as well as Howard Hughes. They're completely different time periods and different men, but similar dynamics, men that keep on reaching for their ultimate goal and stop at nothing until they achieve that. It just happened to be that this script and project was way further advanced in the development stage than the script that landed in our lap from 'Alexander' and we wanted to go forth - we had an intention at one time of doing them both, but you don't get everything you want all the time."
Director Martin Scorsese puts the disappointment of Gangs Of New York behind him to breathe life into complex American playboy Howard Hughes.
A legend in American history, the range and depth of his character needed a resourceful actor to capture his essence - Leonardo DiCaprio. Only lingering on Hughes' childhood to cast light on his cleanliness obsession (his mother terrified him with tales of cholera), Scorsese skilfully sketches in the character of the man courtesy of his sideline as movie producer.
So we see the young movie mogul blowing millions on the World War I flying feature Hell's Angels, badgering a rival studio for cameras and ordering Ian Holm's meteorologist to "find clouds". The movie had to be re-shot to accommodate the new-fangled soundtrack and also cost the lives of three stunt pilotsbut proved a box office smash. Unencumbered by doubt and driven by an uncompromising quest for perfection, the obsessive maverick would go on to apply his obsessive standards to the Hughes Aircraft Company, and subsequently TWA.
The aircraft-obsessed mogul also enjoyed a high-flying personal life, squiring the likes of Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow and Bette Davis. The spikily intelligent Katharine Hepburn (Blanchett, superb) is the irascible love of his life, while Kate Beckinsale gives good hair-toss as Ava Gardner. Focused and beautifully paced, this doesn't disappoint visually, with some stunningly shot aerial shots, particularly Hughes' roof-tile shattering crash-landing in the Hollywood Hills. Hughes was such a larger-than-life character that he needed a director with larger-than-life skills to capture his spirit. Scorsese is well up to the task.
THE AVIATOR
(Cinematografo.it/Adnkronos) - The Aviator è il miglior film del 2004. A incoronare il kolossal di Martin Scorsese sulla vita del miliardario produttore Howard Hughes è stata la Conferenza Episcopale degli Stati Uniti (Usccb) che ha premiato, oltre al valore dell'opera, l'impegno del regista nel diffondere un messaggio allo stesso tempo didattico e ludico. Nella top ten stilata dalla Usccb compare, all'ottavo posto, anche il discusso film di Mel Gibson sulle ultime 12 ore di vita di Gesù, La Passione di Cristo.
Drame biographique réalisé par Martin Scorsese. Avec Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilley, Kate Beckinsale.ÇA RACONTE : Les 20 premières années de la carrière professionnelle du milliardaire Howard Hughes, passionné de cinéma, d'aviation, et de femmes.ON NOTE : Tournée en grande partie à Montréal, cette imposante production est née grâce à l'entêtement de Leonardo DiCaprio qui, après avoir travaillé un temps avec le cinéaste Michael Mann, a ensuite fait appel à Martin Scorsese (celui-là même qui l'a dirigé dans Gangs of New York) pour assurer la réalisation de ce drame biographique. Un parfum de l'Hollywood des années de gloire.FR : * * * *
Howard Hughes and the Spruce Goose
Di Caprio Flying High
Leonardo DiCaprio/The Aviator Interview by Paul Fischer in Los Angeles.
Leonardo Di Caprio apologised for appearing so tired. "It was the premiere last night", he says, with a sheepish grin, referring to the screening of The Aviator, in which the actor assumes the role of the young and complex Howard Hughes Wearing a black t-shirt, black casual jacket, with his hair slicked back, the perennially youthful 30-year old star, has remained intensely passionate about bringing Hughes' life to the screen for several years. "As an actor, you're constantly searching for that great character,"Di Caprio explains, when asked why the fascination for Hughes. "Also, being a history buff and learning about people in our past and amazing things that they've done, I came across a book about Howard Hughes and he was set up as basically, the most multi-dimensional character I could ever come across. Often, people have tried to define him in biographies, but no one seems to be able to categorize him.
He was one of the most complicated men of the last century and so I got this book, brought it to Michael Mann and John Logan came onboard and really came up with the concept, saying, 'you can do ten different movies about Howard Hughes. Let's focus on his younger years. Let's watch his initial descent into madness but meanwhile, have the backdrop of early Hollywood, these daring pioneers in the world of aviation that were like astronauts that went out and went out and risked their lives to further the cause of aviation. [He was] the first American billionaire who had all the resources in the world but was somehow unable to find any sense of peace of happiness'. It's that great see-saw act in the movie that goes on. On one side, he's having all the successes in the world and on the other side the tiny microbes and germs are the things that are taking him downwards."
Di Caprio says that while there are parallels between himself and Hughes, "I think he certainly took things farther than I could ever imagine," the actor insists. He was such an obsessed human being and remained so obsessive about everything he'd gotten involved with, whether it be planes, women or films, he made." While Di Caprio has remained as ferociously guarded about his private life ass Hughes was intensely shy, the actor says those two apparent parallels are miles apart from each other. "I have to say, that for the most part, I am a pretty private person while his came from a genuine mental disorder and I'm just fundamentally not like that. My reasons for being a private person are different from Mr. Hughes, in that because I'm an actor and want people to believe me in different roles and not necessarily know way too much about me. I want to be around in the business for a long time, while he had an intense fear of being around people and germs."
But is Hughes' celebrity that still offers a certain degree of parallel in the young life of Di Caprio, but while Hughes' female conquests remain fascinating as an almost historical legacy for Hughes, Di Caprio laughs when asked about his own place in history when he dates someone. "No, those aren't my intentions going into a relationship," and unlike Howard, Di Capriois not a collector of women. "I honestly feel that as much as he had love and adoration for these women and genuinely cared for them, he kind of looked at them like airplanes. He was a technical genius and obsessed with finding the new, faster, bigger airplane," he adds, laughingly, "and that was simultaneous with women. He was constantly finding the new hotter female to go out with, which all related back to him being orphaned at a very young age and having this empty hole in his soul, which I think he was always trying to fill with new, more exciting things in his life. He ended up, obviously, not a very happy person. I don't know if he was think about whether, historically, he was going to become a legend. I'm sure he had that sort of cat and mouse things going on in his mind where he wanted to be famous but it was more like 'look at me! Look at me! No, don't look at me'."
Dreams do not come true to all who have such lofty ambitions, and in an industry riddled with rejection, the actor says that his father was a great influences during his formative years. "I remember the casting session that I had where I was a break dancer, having this punk hair cut. They rejected me and I became really disillusioned with the business and said well this is what it's all about, and I haven't even got in to read a line.
Leonardo Di Caprio and Cate Blanchett
26 January 2005Scorsese's 'The Aviator' takes off with 11 Oscar nominations
BEVERLY HILLS, California : "The Aviator" soared high above Tuesday's Oscar nominations, snatching 11 nods, including best picture, best actor and best director for the epic story of US billionaire Howard Hughes.In a year dominated by real-life stories but filled with few surprises, the film dominated the nominations for the 77th annual Academy Awards when they were unveiled by Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and Oscars chief Frank Pierson at a pre-dawn ceremony.Tying for second place in cinema's great race were "Finding Neverland," the story of Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, and Clint Eastwood's drama "Million Dollar Baby," with seven nods each, including best picture.Red-hot star Jamie Foxx, 37, became the early leader in the best actor competition after winning an expected nomination for his acclaimed performance as blind soul legend Ray Charles in "Ray.""The Aviator" snagged a best actor nod for "Titanic" heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio in his role as the eccentric Hughes, best director for long-overlooked Martin Scorsese and best supporting actor nominations for Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn and for Alan Alda."'The Aviator' is flying high and is hoping to become the first movie about Hollywood to win Hollywood's top award," awards pundit Tom O'Neil told AFP of the 110-million-dollar picture.The film also picked up nods for best cinematography, costume design, art direction, film editing, sound mixing and original screenplay."Bringing 'The Aviator' to the screen took years of effort by an extraordinary group of individuals," Scorsese said in a statement, adding that he wwas thrilled at the recognition.Historically, the film that led the Oscar nominations has gone on to win the best picture statuette in 18 of the last 20 years.Following "Aviator," "Neverland" and "Baby" in the nomination stakes were "Ray," with six nods, including best picture, best actor for Foxx and best director for Taylor Hackford; the bittersweet California road movie "Sideways," with five, including best picture and best director for Alexander Payne; and Disney-Pixar's animated "The Incredibles," with four.Four out of the five best actor nominees played real-life characters, including Foxx, DiCaprio, Johnny Depp as J.M. Barrie and Don Cheadle as hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in the genocide drama "Hotel Rwanda."The only one to play a fictional character was veteran screen icon Eastwood, 74, who won a nod for his role as tough old boxing coach Frankie Dunn in "Baby," for which he also won a best director nomination.But Liam Neeson missed out on a nod for his role as a famed sexologist in "Kinsey," and "Sideways" star Paul Giamatti was also notably snubbed.The competition is stiff for best actress, as previous Oscar-winner Hilary Swank, nominated this year for her role as a tragic female boxer in "Baby," faces off against Annette Bening for her portrayal of an aging actress in "Being Julia."They are pitted against Britons Imelda Staunton, for the 1950s abortion saga "Vera Drake," and Kate Winslet, for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," as well as Catalina Sandino Moreno, for the Spanish-language drug-running story "Maria Full of Grace."Swank, 30, won the best actress Oscar for playing a sexually conflicted woman in 1999's "Boys Don't Cry."A heavyweight lineup also dominates this year's directing race, with Eastwood facing off against "Taxi Driver" filmmaker Scorsese, 62, Hackford, Payne and "Vera Drake" filmmaker Mike Leigh. "Neverland" director Marc Forster was shut out.Scorsese, who has been nominated for a total of six Oscars in the past but has never won, is tipped as the favourite in the category.Foxx won a second nod as best supporting actor for the Tom Cruise thriller "Collateral," becoming only the 10th actor to be recognised in both categories in the same year.He is now locked in a showdown for best supporting actor with Thomas Haden Church for "Sideways," Alda for "The Aviator," Morgan Freeman for "Million Dollar Baby" and Briton Clive Owen for the sexual intrigue "Closer."Australia's Blanchett won a best supporting actress nod for playing screen legend Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator," joining Britain's Sophie Okonedo for "Hotel Rwanda," Laura Linney for "Kinsey," Virginia Madsen for "Sideways" and Natalie Portman for "Closer."Human tragedy pervaded the best foreign-language film category, with Spain's "The Sea Inside," a drama about a paraplegic's fight to die, and South Africa's AIDS drama "Yesterday" leading the nominations.They face competition from France's "Les Choristes," Germany's "Downfall," a recreation of the last days of Adolf Hitler, and "As It Is In Heaven," from Sweden's Kay Pollak.The Oscar nominations formally shift Tinseltown's annual awards season into high gear as studios and stars jostle to win the hearts of the 5,800 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters.The 2005 golden statuettes will be handed out at a glittering ceremony in Hollywood on February 27
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder