EXCLUSIVE: Leonardo DiCaprio’s nomination this morning for One Battle After Another puts him in such rarified air that before our eyes he’s transforming from the actor of his generation to one of the most accomplished actors ever.
This marks the eighth overall nomination for DiCaprio, who won Best Actor for The Revenant. It puts him in the company of eight other actors to be nominated for at least seven Oscars, a group that includes Ingrid Bergman, Jeff Bridges, Richard Burton, Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Greer Garson, Dustin Hoffman and DiCaprio’s Titanic costar Kate Winslet.
His six Best Actor nominations tie him with Richard Burton and Daniel Day-Lewis for most all-time.
DiCaprio spoke this morning with Deadline. As usual, his focus was not on himself but rather his Oscar-nominated castmates on One Battle After Another and writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson. It was also about the reminder that sometimes when you take risks and swing for the fences from your heels, you hit home runs.
While Warner Bros leaders Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy were unfairly shackled with risks taken on One Battle After Another and Sinners, they are looking pretty smart today: those films got a total of 29 nominations at a time when specialty labels and not studios rule the awards circuit.
One Battle After Another’s release has been a momentum builder, transitioning from theaters to streaming at an optimal time. I tell DiCaprio this is a movie that lends itself better than many to repeat viewings, where you can focus on different performances, action, and great dialogue each time.
“That is the ultimate compliment for this film,” DiCaprio told Deadline. “Having watched the film that way a multitude of times myself, I feel it’s a testament to the incredible amount of thought that Paul put into this story. When films take on a different meaning or a different pathos, you feel you can take a side road into any of these small characters’ lives because they are all so fully fulfilled and hashed out with real identities. To me, it really is original filmmaking and a really multifaceted world, about a subject that is so pertinent to the world we’re living in, and the confusion of the world we’re living in, and the hostility and the extremism. Paul made one of those films that I’m going to be so proud to look back. I feel like he really put his thumb on the pulse of America right now. I hope it will be remembered that way, and lives on for years to come. And it’s all a testament to Paul’s writing and what he wanted to say about who we are right now.”
There are only five nominations in each Oscar category except Best Picture, and somebody’s going to be left out. DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn and Teyana Taylor all got nods. Acting in her first major feature, Chase Infiniti did not.
“Chase was the heart and soul of this movie,” DiCaprio said. “And she’s going to have an incredible career ahead of her. She really carried this film, especially it being her first role in a feature film. I couldn’t have been more proud of her and the integrity and the intensity and the leadership that she brought to that character. As for the others, what can I say? I got to work with an all-star cast. I was incredibly fortunate to work with so many people that I’ve looked up to for years in this industry, and it was an incredible experience.
“To work on this film with Paul and just to collaborate on a film that just feels so topical, man, it’s unbelievable,” DiCaprio said. “It has been so cool to be a part of this band, when you go out in the world and are able to talk about a film that you’re truly proud of. With actors that you’re so proud to work with and a story that you feel is important. We’ve been doing it for the past year, and there’s an ease to talking about something that you have such a genuine love and pride for. And that’s how I feel about this movie.”
I tell him that it seems only a matter of time that the Academy Museum comes knocking for the bathrobe DiCaprio’s Bob Ferguson character wears for the entire film, and the karate pants that Del Toro wore throughout.
“I guess they’ll come for those, and that tracking device,” he said, adding that he doesn’t have any of that stuff. “When I make a movie, I always look at the props and wonder, what might be the memorable symbol of some of these films? And I guess you nailed it.”
Unlike like his Killers of the Flower Moon costar Robert De Niro, DiCaprio doesn’t have the hoarder gene and couldn’t remember anything special he took from the job. So no, the bathrobe isn’t hanging in his closet.
“It’s gotten harder to get those props out of the studios, man. They go right into the vault. I can’t think of anything I have that is that memorable. Bob, he keeps everything.”
DiCaprio will next star with Jennifer Lawrence in the Martin Scorsese-directed What Happens at Night, as Michael Mann continues work on Heat 2, the crime classic sequel. Last time Deadline spoke with DiCaprio, he was weighing whether to play Vincent Hanna (the role originated by Al Pacino) or Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) and their continuing adventures.
I tried to pry out details on that and his Golden Globes viral moment, and he shut down like the door of a studio prop vault.
“On Heat 2, we’re keeping that one tight,” he said.
As for his animated Golden Globes moment that went viral to the point lip readers were speculating on who he was speaking to, and whether the subject was K-Pop Demon Hunters. He felt no need to elaborate.
“It was directed to a friend, but at the end of the day, who knows if this other person that I was talking to wants me to even mention their name.? So, as the lead character says in A Bronx Tale, I’m not a rat.”
