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SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s 4th Annual Patron of the Artists Awards

Leonardo DiCaprio presented Mark Ruffalo with the Artists Inspiration Award at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Patron of the Artists Awards on November 07, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California.

Leonardo honored Mark by describing him as one of the best people. The two met close to a decade ago, DiCaprio explained, while filming Shutter Island. “ During the course of shooting, we got to speak about his genuine passion for activism, and since then I’ve watched as Mark has become a leading voice in the effort to shift our world away from a reliance on fossil fuels and an outspoken advocate for human rights,” he said, singling out his profound impact with the Solutions Project and mentioning his advocacy on behalf of voter registration efforts, LGBTQ rights, women’s reproductive freedom, the march against white supremacy.

He mentioned how Ruffalo channels activism into his work, like he’s doing with his upcoming Dark Waters on Nov. 22. “With all of these causes that Mark fights for, he chooses to inspire hope for the future, not fear for the present.”

“ Many aspire to make the world a better place but Mark doesn’t just aspire. He works tirelessly for change.” Leonardo DiCaprio said in presenting the award to his “good friend” and fellow environmental activist Mark Ruffalo.


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LACMA Art + Film Gala

Leonardo DiCaprio, the gala’s co-chair, and honoree Betye Saar (photo by Roger Kisby/Redux)

Leonardo DiCaprio attended the 2019 LACMA Art + Film Gala at LACMA on November 02, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.

Categories Leo News

The stars of ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ reunited for a special Q&A at The New Beverly Cinema

On November 2, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood writer/director Quentin Tarantino and stars Leonardo DiCaprioBrad Pitt, and Margot Robbie participated in a moderated Q&A session at Tarantino’s New Beverly Theater in Los Angeles. Here are some highlights from the conversation:

One of the most memorable moments in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Rick Dalton’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) frantic meltdown in his trailer after he forgets his lines while shooting a pilot for the Western series Lancer. As it turns out, that scene was not in the original script, and was added by writer-director Quentin Tarantino at DiCaprio’s behest. 

The star told the filmmaker, “I need to fuck up during the Lancer sequence, and when I fuck up during the Lancer sequence, I need to have a real crisis of conscious about it and I have to come back from it in some way,” Tarantino remembered at the post-screening Q&A on Sunday in Los Angeles. “My response was, ‘You’re going to fuck up my Lancer sequence?! That’s my Western! I get two-for-one in this movie — I snuck a Western in here while no one was fucking looking!'”

To appease both parties, Tarantino shot the scene both with the forgotten lines and without, deciding that “with the fuck-up, it was just so amazing that of course we were going to use it,” and then went about crafting the trailer tantrum, deciding to mostly leave it up to Leonardo to improvise. The director wanted to do three continuous takes with Leo in crisis, and planned to cut together the best bits — he threw out topics to his star but Leo was left to do the rest. For example, Tarantino would say, “Get pissed off about Jim Stacy,” and DiCaprio would respond, “Oh, that fucking Jim Stacy, just sitting up there watching me, thinking he’s so fucking hot, he wouldn’t be a wrangler on my show.” Recalled Tarantino, “The cutest part was how nervous [DiCaprio] was to do it — I’ve never seen him so nervous.” 

Noting how nothing in the film uses CGI or greenscreens, Leonardo said, “In a lot of ways, it’s kind of like nostalgia within nostalgia because we’re doing a film about Hollywood in 1969, and we’re also doing a film that is done the way they did it in 1969. Everyone around you has this in this excitement about doing it on film. I mean, if you went down Hollywood Boulevard, the amount of effort they put into that set decoration was absolutely astounding.”

For Leonardo DiCaprio, who portrays down-but-maybe-not-entirely-out actor Rick Dalton, his approach to the role was unlocked when Tarantino showed him some actors in the real world who represented the type of actor Rick could have been if he’d actually existed.

“For me, I kind of keyed in on three guys: Ty Harden, Eddie Burns, and Ralph Meeker. And once we honed in on Ralph Meeker’s work, I started obsessively watching his work because there was a vulnerability and a sensitivity to him, and the sort of pathos that he had in his work that I felt Rick had the potential to emulate in his own career. I didn’t quite understand what kind of actor Rick could be, and that led to a lot of our turning points in the discussion of, dramatically, where Rick winds up on that day and set when that young Meryl Streep actress tells him, ‘I’m preparing for my role, what are you [doing?]’ He’s sitting there reading a cowboy novella getting emotional about himself, the fact that he has to do spaghetti westerns and his life is over.

It culminated in that sequence, which we kind of came up with, where he has the ultimate nightmare for an actor, which is forgetting all your lines in front of the entire cast and crew and that sort of mental breakdown. What kind of actor he could become was the biggest question for me, and I think we both mutually decided that, yeah, there is a depth to Rick’s work and applying himself and digging deep, he can give a great performance.”

Categories Leo News

Leonardo DiCaprio at the 11th Annual Governors Awards

The 2019 Governors Awards mark the launch of award season and so many of this year’s awards contenders stepped out to celebrate the recipients of the Honorary Oscars on Sunday night (October 27) at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.

In the very first moments, Jamie Foxx opened the proceedings with a little riff on a few superstars in the crowd including Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Quentin Tarantino and Eddie Murphy.

Foxx summoned cheers for his Django Unchained friends,“Leonardo DiCaprio out there in the building! Ladies and gentlemen, let it go!” Foxx wailed. Leonardo stood and gave a wave to the room. “Sitting next to Leonardo DiCaprio is the chief director Quentin Tarantino! Give it to him!”Foxx continued.

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Sony Will Campaign Leonardo DiCaprio For Best Actor for ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’

It’s Official: Sony Will Campaign Leonardo DiCaprio For Best Actor, with Brad Pitt in Supporting Category for ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’.

Leonardo DiCaprio has been submitted for consideration for a nomination in the Lead Actor category for his work as Rick Dalton. Brad Pitt has been submitted as a Supporting Actor for his work portraying Cliff Booth, IndieWire reports.

Categories Leo News

Urs Fischer has made a candle sculpture of Leonardo DiCaprio and his parents in wax

Gagosian Paris is presenting new works by Swiss contemporary artist Urs Fischer. Titled “Leo,” the exhibition centers upon a candle sculpture of Leonardo DiCaprio along with his parents, George DiCaprio and Irmelin Indenbirken which will melt slowly over the course of the exhibition.

Urs Fischer’s “Leo” on show at Gagosian gallery in Paris © Stefan Altenburger

The larger-than-life size work, made in a foundry in Switzerland, is composed of a double portrait of Leonardo DiCaprio. One portrays him chatting to his father, who is standing separately, and the other—which is linked to the first like a conjoined twin—portrays him embracing his mother, the two of them smiling.

Urs Fischer’s “Leo” on show at Gagosian gallery in Paris © Stefan Altenburger

“I’ve known Leo for years, we have common friends and have been on vacation [together],” Fischer says. “He asked me to do a portrait of him and normally I say ‘no’ [to commission requests] but some months later I said ‘yes’. He is someone in control of his image and I thought it would be interesting to situate [the sculpture] outside of that [professionalism].”

“ I asked if he could do it with his parents. He said yeah, he was totally game, it was cool all the way. We all met, and we tried to figure out, and we went in with an open mind. ”

A view of the wax portrait on the day of the opening at Gagosian

Produced in a delicate palette of white and pale pink, with care taken to convey the folds and creases of fabric in the trio’s clothes, the multi-perspectival sculpture has already been set alight. The wick above the upright  “Leo”  is slowly dripping black wax down his hair and T-shirt. As the ephemeral work gradually melts away over the course of the exhibition, the piece will become lined with black, creating a kinetic, transformative effect. Fischer will be giving an edition of the piece to the actor.

“Leo”  is presented in the ground floor gallery of Gagosian Paris during October 14–December 20, 2019.

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