Q&A Part 1: Leo's World.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at 6:00PM Dear Readers, Last week I asked for more reader questions but since three of them at least were about Leonardo DiCaprio let's get them all out of the way as an appetizer to the main Q&A post. Ready... here we go.
LADY EDITH: Now that you have experienced the "Jonas blizzard" so recently how do you feel about giving "The Revenant" Oscars? [More]
a) Less inclined -snow wasn't so bad, I don't understand what Leo's complaining about.
b) More inclined - snow was terrible and I can't imagine dealing with the cold.
NATHANIEL: The cold never bothered me anyway... 🎵 I love winter. Total winter-lover / summer-hater here! If we had to give people Oscars based on how hard it was to make a movie, wouldn't everyone's assistants and underlings in Hollywood have Oscars instead of the stars and directors themselves? So, "less inclined".
Wait, can you say "less inclined" when you were never inclined at all?
STEPH: Nathaniel, like you, I am a huge fan/defender of Titanic but I don't know how you feel about DiCaprio's performance in it...
Now that DiCaprio insists on playing these tortured widowers, I'm ever more grateful that James Cameron avoided all that angst and got a charming/romantic performance out of him. My question is: do you love the performance, do you think it should have been nominated in 1997, and do you think DiCaprio should have won for it?
NATHANIEL: I don't know how to answer this. Is it weird to crazylove Titanic but not think Leo & Kate were worthy of nominations? I love them together but Best Acting seems to be stretching it. My nominations that year might have gone something like so... with Leo & Kate near but not in each field.
ACTRESS: Helena Bonham Carter (Wings of the Dove - winner); Judi Dench (Mrs Brown); Jodie Foster (Contact); Julia Roberts (My Best Friend's Wedding); and Julie Christie (Afterglow) or maybe Pam Grier (Jackie Brown) or maybe tiny Victoire Thivisol (Ponette) who I used to definitely have in there but I've gotten a little more hesitant about crediting children with performances that superb. And she was only 4.
ACTOR: Russell Crowe (LA Confidential);Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman); Johnny Depp (Donnie Brasco); Ian Holm (The Sweet Hereafter - winner); and either Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting),Al Pacino (Donnie Brasco) or Linus Roache (Wings of the Dove)
MARTIN: If the Revenant had been made in 1985, who do you think would have played Leo's character? And Tom Hardy's character? I know of course it depends on who directed it, and I know it's a weird question anyway but I'm very curious to know who you'd pick!
NATHANIEL: You know what's even weirder than the question: It's that the only possible answer is Mel Gibson! And that's weird to say since Tom Hardy is in this and also playing Mad Max and 1985 is the last time that Gibson played that particular road warrior. But Gibson would have obviously been all up in this masochist machismo brutality. And for his director I think if the soulful Peter Weir directed it it might have even had the spiritual heft that Inarritu thinks he's given it but which it's totally missing. I already like this time travel movie way more than The Revenant.
Gibson used to love to be tortured and martyred onscreen and/or seek brutal revenge. And he was still at the peak of his beauty and powers in the mid 80s; the crazy hadn't yet taken over and aged him even though it was probably already there in some form or another. The Tom Hardy role is trickier. Who was less A list than Gibson in the mid 80s and could successfully sell such a OTT villain and hold their own with him? I want to say Val Kilmer just before Top Gun or Michael Keaton between Mr Mom and Beetlejuice because it might be cheating to say Kurt Russell (my top choice) since we already know he'd prove to have great antagonistic chemistry with Gibson via their war over La Pfeiffer in Tequila Sunrise (1988). What'cha think?
YOUR TURN READERS:
Would you have nominated Leo for Titanic (1997). How would you have cast The Revenant in the 1980s... or the 1990s?
Reader Comments (55)
Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, both in either role.
My 97 Actor Ballet
Wahlberg
Damon
Crowe
Kline
Duvall
Actress
Lange
Bonham Carter
Dench
Hunt
Grier
You would take away Kate's Titanic nomination? Ultimate Shade I thought you loved her :-))))
Thanks Nathaniel for answering my question and showing that you are a true Nordic loving person. (in all respects) " Less inclined" was the right answer.
As for this 1985 version of The Revenant, directed by Peter Weir, and staring Mel Gibson (pre Crazy) I'm all for it. Weir gave us the wonderful "Master and Commander" and "Gallipoli" so this is his territory. For the Tom Hardy part -other alternatives -Bruce Dern,John Malkovich, Christopher Walken, Australian Bryan Brown?
Guy Pearce may have been a little young for 1985.
Kurt Russell was so good in "The Thing" I think he can't be beat.
What about substituting Mel Gibson for Jeff Bridges ? - considering what he later did in True Grit he may have been great for the lead.
oops - that question should read: What about substituting Jeff Bridges for Mel Gibson (Leo's part)?
For the Tom Hardy role? Bruce Campbell before Evil Dead 2.
Best Actor 1997: I totally agree on Linus Roache. He should have got a nomination. He's outstanding in The Wings of the Dove. As are HBC and Allison Elliott. What a film (and a terrific adaptation of a great novel).
LadyEdith: Guy Pearce and Crowe in the '90s version Nat was asking for.
Either 80s or 90s, for the record, on that suggestion.
So, maybe after Army of Darkness instead of before Evil Dead 2.
Christie did not deserve her nomination for Afterglow. Winslet deserved her nomination for enduring Cameron.
@Paul Outlaw - sorry I missed the 90's option - of course Pearce & Crowe for the 90's are great -
@Volvagia - I really like Bruce Campbell & he'd be great too.
do we all agree that Peter Weir is the director of choice?
Peter Weir in the '80s, Edward Zwick in the '90s.
Of course, it's fun to think about the 1945 (Henry Fonda and Humphrey Bogart, directed by John Ford) and 1975 (Clint Eastwood and Bruce Dern, directed by Sam Peckinpah) versions of The Revenant, too.
Paul Outlaw: Ew. Zwick never! Zwick never! Branagh for the 90s.
Oh - I think I would skip the Sam Peckinpah version, maybe a David Lean or John Boorman version. (no shade meant, just my preference.)
@Martin - we should thank you for giving us such a fun question - well done!
Best Actor 97:
- Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting)
- Russell Crowe (L.A. Comfidential)
- Ian Holm (The Sweet Hereafter)
- Ben Affleck (Chasing Amy) ---- Stop laughing, I think it's his best performance ever!
- Jack Nicholson (As Good As It Gets) ---- don't kill me, I know it's an unpopular thought in these parts but I really love that performance
@ LadyEdith & Volvagia
Choosing Zwick and Peckinpah is probably a hint as to how I feel about the material...
mark: My Lead Actor field?
John Cusack, Grosse Pointe Blank (A-) (Mmm, hmm.) - Winner.
Aaron Eckhart, In the Company of Men (A-) (He can be charming, but Eckhart is at his best when he's allowed to just let the shark out. The only two times that's really happened are this and that ending segment of The Dark Knight. They are both GLORIOUS.) - Silver
Mark Wahlberg, Boogie Nights (Of course.) (A) - Bronze
Greg Kinnear, As Good as It Gets (B+) (Yes, I view him as a co-lead. Yes, I know some might call that kind of generous.) - 4th
Samuel L. Jackson, Jackie Brown (A) (I know, I know, this requires a taste for "BIG" acting.) - 5th
I don't really feel like compiling a full Best Actor list for 1997, but I just want to say that I would have fully supported a nomination for Christopher Guest in Waiting for Guffman, which is comedic perfection.
Bensunce: I won't kill you. I like him too!
Volvagia: Samuel L. Jackson is fab in Jackie Brown. And I agree, big - but subtle too. Especially as the film moves towards the ending. As for Kinnear, I can see what you mean. Like Broadcast News, it's a James L. Brooks film with, arguably, three leads.
Bensunce: I'd definitely put it in the Top 5, but Dogma is my choice for his absolute peak.
It's very sly how you just divert off Leo and start talking about other actors. I don't mind him. I have liked him from This Boy's Life to The Departed.
Here's my thing with Leo. I think he's capable of being a terrific, charismatic movie star when he allows himself to be. I feel like Titanic is the best and worst thing that ever happened to him. It's a great movie star performance, but it made him into a heart throb teen idol. And I think that made him uncomfortable, and he's been running away from it ever since. There's incredible value to being a movie star. It's not something that can be taught, and some of the greatest screen performances of all time have come from movie stars playing with or playing up their movie star personas. But Leo has been trying to be Daniel Day Lewis for decades now, and he's just not a natural character actor. It always comes off hammy. I can see the ACTING, instead of it being a transformation. I worry giving him a statue for The Revenant will encourage his worst instincts and discourage him from being appealing on screen. I almost wish he could've gotten it for Wolf of Wall Street in which he at least allowed himself to seem charismatic and not covered in filth.
After re-watching the original Mad Max recently I completely agree with Mel in Leo's role. Talk about a revenge movie! Of course I couldn't go past Peter Weir as director and to make it an all Aussie affair, I'd say give Bryan Brown a go. And while we are at it lets set it in the outback ;)
@Nathaniel: For some reason, I thought you were crazy about Christopher Guest in "Waiting for Guffman" and that Thivisol was your 2nd place (??)
Glad you like Foster and Roberts. They are both phenomenal in "Contact" and "My Best Friend's Wedding," respectively.
BVR --- I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT WAITING FOR GUFFMAN !!! Of course he'd been in my lineup and maybe even my winner
My lead acting lineups for 1997 would probably look something like this...
BEST ACTOR
Peter Fonda - Ulee's Gold
Dustin Hoffman - Wag the Dog
*Kevin Kline - In & Out
Jack Nicholson - As Good As It Gets
Al Pacino - Donnie Brasco
BEST ACTRESS
Joey Lauren Adams - Chasing Amy
Judi Dench - Mrs. Brown
*Pam Grier - Jackie Brown
Helen Hunt - As Good As It Gets
Julia Roberts - My Best Friend's Wedding
As for a 1985 version of The Revenant, I'm all for the idea of casting Mel Gibson in the Leonardo DiCaprio role. How about we go with Eric Roberts in Tom Hardy's part? He was Oscar-nominated for the movie Runaway Train just that year and he was fresh off probably his best performance ever in 1984's The Pope of Greenwich Village.
If we did a 1995 version? Jim Jarmusch made a movie called Dead Man with Johnny Depp and Lance Henriksen that reminds me of The Revenant. Jarmusch's black & white, rock'n'roll western is a much better movie honestly. But if we're really going to recast The Revenant with big names of the era? Maybe if Kevin Costner gets the DiCaprio role we might live in a universe without Waterworld. I'd go with Brad Pitt in the Tom Hardy part since he was getting his first Oscar nomination courtesy of Twelve Monkeys that year. Then maybe Bruce Willis should take Leo's role?
I would absolutely have given Leo a nomination for the Titanic and likely would have been considering him for the win. I'm always a sucker for on-screen charisma and, within my lifetime, Leo in Titanic is the embodiment of that...
Which is why I have practically no interest remaining in him as an actor. In the past 18 years, he has gone from one of the most charming leading men of all time to an absolutely morose black hole of an actor from which joy, once it has passed his event horizon, cannot ever hope to escape. And saddest to me, he seemingly takes these devastated man roles in order to "stretch" himself as an actor. If you ask me, what's the number one thing he could do to challenge himself? To do a comedy or at least something light-hearted once again.
(In fairness to Leo, I guess The Wolf of Wall Street might count as a comedy, but even that was pretty darn bleak.)
Aww thanks for answering my question, Nathaniel! :) God that Gibson/Russell choice for Martin's question is SO spot on.
Thank you for answering my question! Glad to see the positive response and I think Gibson/Russell/Weir are all great choices, Eric Roberts as well. This is something I do often for fun- recasting recent movies several decades earlier. I like to find actors that were the same age that the movie's actors were that year (and if possible, of similar popularity). So I came up with Michael Douglas in the Leo role and Sam Neill (or Kevin Kline) in the Tom Hardy role, hehe.
Anyone want to join me in a full-throated unapologetic roar of support for Leo? I mean for the whole career?
No, he's not always perfect in all aspects of a role (The Aviator); and yeah, he's sometimes not good at all (Gatsby); but damn, when he's really on, he's great. I wish he'd won his Oscar for The Departed (still don't understand why they nominated him that year for Blood Diamond), and barring that for Wolf of Wall Street (sorry, McConnaughey, you should have gotten the Emmy for True Detective instead).
I will be cheering loudly if he finally gets his on Oscar night. Who's with me? Anyone?
@LadyEdith: "do we all agree that Peter Weir is the director of choice?"
While Peter Weir would be my preference, I think Roland Joffe is more likely to direct The Revenant in the 1980s.
How weird, I was just talking about an 80s Revenant the other day. The casting we came up with was William Hurt as Leo and Jeff Bridges as Hardy (with Eric Roberts as a second choice). We didn't talk about the director but now Nat has mentioned it, Petrr Weir is clearly the only choice.
@Hustler, I cheered when Bryan Cranston pulled off that upset over McConaughey at the Emmys (a rare example of the voters choosing quality over star-fucking) and I would have cheered even harder had DiCaprio also defeated McConaughey at the Oscars. I'm one of those people who's OK with McConaughey not winning anything unless of course it was a Supporting Oscar for Magic Mike...the one time in the McConaissance when he was actually transcendent and of course that's when they didn't even nominate him.
As for Leo, I would've nominated him for Departed over Blood Diamond, snubbed him for Revenant, kept his other nominations, and added additional nods for Titanic and Catch Me If You Can. I'm with Nathaniel in wishing that Leo would lose this masculinist/dread rut he's in -- and he's not always good -- but there are four performances I feel could've deservingly won the Oscar: What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Catch Me If You Can, The Departed, and The Wolf of Wall Street.
I don't understand the loathing that the writers here have of DiCaprio. I think he's good. Did he deserve a nomination for Titanic? No, I think he was miscast. I never believed him Jack Dawson. In my opinion, it should have been someone more rugged, less handsome. As for The Revenant, I look forward to seeing it, as parts of it were filmed less than 15 kms from where I live. I am surprised no one has compared it to the brutality of the 1991 movie Black Robe. As that was a Canadian film, probably few have seen it. But I would urge everyone to check it out. In my opinion, it should have been nominated for numerous Oscars. Black Robe is sort of a "Dances With Wolves", but with teeth.
Am I the only one who thinks is just great as Gatsby and he should go for moviestar roles? He's so handsome with the right suit, he looks great, so I hope this deglam trend is over when he wins his Oscar.
I think he's fantastic and super charming in Titanic, but that doesn't mean I would have nominated him.
Hustler-
Count me as a whole-hearted Leo fan. While I haven't always liked his movies (really hated the Aviator for example) I appreciated and applauded his performances. Weirdly, seen all but 2, and about 10 are Oscar-worthy. His personal life, though--his entourage, young models, vaping-- meh.
RJL -- how is it "loathing" to say I like him in TITANIC but wouldn't nominate him? I simply thought there were 5 better performances that year. I like his early work a lot from This Boy's Life through Catch Me If You Can. It's 2002 and later that I have a problem with usually. That's when all the misery and self-importance took over.
LOL @ all the love for Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding. Really guys??!
I think Evan has it spot on. Leo is a movie star and not an actor. He is never going to be DDL, but his desire to be taken seriously has built him a career of ho hum work.
I would compare him to Robert Redford, who also tried Gatsby ( with only slightly better results). Redford kept on being a movie star and found great roles throughout his career. The Sundance Kid, The Sting, All the Presidents Men, Brubaker, The Natural. Where is Leo’s Out of Africa? Redford’s Oscar is for directing . Maybe if Leo wins this year, he can move on to build a memorable career.
Argh! I read this blog every day - how did I miss the post where you ask for questions the one time I finally had some questions to ask? Darnit.
I actually liked Leo in Gatsby. I was surprised and impressed at how much he committed to Gatsby's prissiness, a quality I'd think most male movie stars would eschew for coming off too effete and, frankly, gay.
Can we have a Wings of the Dove week? I would just faint! One of my favorite films.
I agree, there was no need to nominate Leo for Titanic. He probably elevated a character that could have been absolutely unwatchable, given the Cameron script, but it's not enough.
Russell Crowe should have won for LA Conf. Pearce should have been nommed as well.
Leo, on the other hand, should have been nominated for Catch Me if You Can and Revolutionary Road.
And he should have won for Gilbert Grape and WOWS.
And also for Django Unchained:)
Cal and DeeJayDJ - I too love DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby!
Re: Best Actor 1997
With all the talk of As Good As It Gets being a 3-Lead Film, and of Grier and Jackson? Does nobody else consider Forster as Leading in Jackie Brown? I do and he makes my Top 5...
kermit: There was a point at which I did consider Forster a co-lead, but a rewatch all but confirmed I must have been out of my mind. His part's really only slightly larger than DeNiro's.
Volvagia - I need to rewatch then! Only saw it (most recently) last year, but remember thinking that Forster and Jackson had similar screentime and equally drove the plot! Either Grier was sole Leading (tenuous as she's absent more than you'd imagine) or all 3 are Lead. I'll review and amend my charts accordingly!
Enjoying the Wings of The Dove love. It really is a great film, which I find quite devastating. It baffles me when people say Judi Dench should have won for Mrs Brown because to me it's just her sitting on a horse in Victoria's clothes. She doesn't embody the character at all.
Helena Bonham Carter's performance is brittle and cynical yet mournful and heart-rending at the end when she realizes that he loves the dead woman more then her. It's a bit like Judy near the end of Vertigo. In the last scene it's like Helena just acts with her thighs!
Agree that Leo should have won for Gilbert Grape. I think it's still his best performance.