Leonardo DiCaprio has been a force to be reckoned with on the Hollywood scene for more than 15 years , but the Oscar-nominated hunk celebrates his Hollywood heroes and praises his favorite cinema gems with the March issue of Esquire Magazine.
Leonardo Praises His The Departed Co-Star Jack Nicholson: “Out of any actor, I can’t think of anyone who’s got more memorable moments in cinema than Jack Nicholson,” he told the mag. “Jack never takes a single line straight on. Never takes an emotion written in the script at face value. He brings terror into what you thought was supposed to be a light moment and makes a light moment out of a cutthroat vicious line. He flips everything on its side.”
Leo Gushes Over Meryl Streep, with whom he co-starred in Marvin’s Room: “I was 18 when I got to work with Meryl,” he said. “I remember going over my lines with her off camera, looking at her and thinking to myself, ‘What is going on here? How is this going to look good?’ Then when I sat in the theater, it was, ‘Oh, my God, she’s the only person who looks completely natural.’ Meryl may be the greatest actor in the world.”
River Phoenix Had Been Leo’s Hero: “When I was 18, River Phoenix was far and away my hero….I always wanted to meet him. One night, I was at this Halloween party, and he passed me. He was beyond pale – he looked white. Before I got a chance to say hello, he was gone, driving off to the Viper Room, where he fell over and died. That’s a lesson.”
DiCaprio Holds Spielberg and Scorsese In High Esteem: “The only other person who knows as much about film as Martin Scorsese is Steven Spielberg….I went from working with Marty on Gangs of New York to working with Steven on Catch Me If You Can. I had to publicize both movies at the same time, and people would always ask me, What are the differences between Spielberg and Scorsese? All I could find myself talking about was the similarities.”
Leo also listed his Top 5 Favorite Movies:
1. The Bicycle Thief
2. Taxi Driver
3. 8 & frac12
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. East of Eden