How Leonardo DiCaprio’s Role in ‘This Boy’s Life’ Influenced His Acting Career

Leonardo DiCaprio has a hall-of-fame-worthy acting career. He’s received seven Oscar nominations (winning an Academy Award in 2016 for his performance in The Revenant) and worked on major feature films with iconic actors and directing titans such as Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese.

His multi-decade movie career started as a child actor on the children’s show Romper Room, shifting to commercials years later. DiCaprio’s early TV roles included the drama series The New Lassie, the soap opera Santa Barbara and playing a homeless kid in the sitcom Growing Pains.

While his film debut was in a campy, direct-to-video horror film Critters 3, DiCaprio’s career took off two years later when he was cast as Tobias Wolff opposite Robert De Niro’s Dwight Hansen character in This Boy’s Life, a film adaptation of the real-life Tobias Wolff’s memoir about his childhood. During this time, DiCaprio gleaned acting advice from De Niro that changed his acting approach forever.

Director Michael Caton-Jones’ Apology to Leonardo DiCaprio

In an interview with Deadline, DiCaprio talks about this pivotal role, and the “culture shock” he felt going into the “big leagues.” Dicaprio revealed the film’s director, Michael Caton-Jones, apologized to him for being “so mean to you when you were little.”

DiCaprio was baffled at the apology, not seeing the director’s on-set actions as such, calling Caton-Jones “the greatest big brother I could ever have during my first giant cinematic process.” “You talked me through everything,” he said. “You told me all the fundamental basics. Like a little league coach, literally telling me how to run the bases because I had no idea.”

At that point in his career, Dicaprio had worked on commercials and TV sets, which were more relaxed. He didn’t understand the different nuances of film sets.

“I had no understanding when to…shut up,” Dicaprio said. “Like when you see Robert De Niro preparing, and I’d get a squeeze in the arm from Michael if I was telling too many jokes, or cracking up or trying to converse with the crew members. He let me know. ‘An actor prepares, Leonardo.’”

Robert De Niro’s Life Lessons in Acting

Auditioning for the part of Tobias Wolff at age 15, the Wolf of Wall Street star remembers feeling the need to “do something memorable.”

The audition scene was a heated interaction between him and De Niro involving a mustard jar. “[De Niro]’s like, ‘Is it empty, is it empty?’ and I just stood up and threw my chair down, or something, and screamed at him, ‘No, it’s not empty.’ And then Bob had this smirk on his face, and just started slowly busting up, laughing in my face. And then he looked at everybody else, and the whole room started laughing.”

The reaction in the room convinced DiCaprio that his risky choice was a big mistake. “I blew this. I blew this whole opportunity, ” he thought. “But I guess they kind of liked it because Bob was like, ‘That kid was…there’s something interesting there.’ And they brought me back.”

On set, De Niro demonstrated to the young Dicaprio how a serious actor approaches his work. “I remember how seriously he took everything, how focused he was, how he would play with…he’d just sit there, and you’d have to sometimes realize you were in the scene because you’re just watching him do an improv riff. And you’re like, ‘Holy s*** I’m on camera, that’s right.’ You had to remember to be in the moment.”

Leonardo DiCaprio would carry De Niro’s advice with him throughout his storied movie career, becoming a teen heartthrob with his breakout role in Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet in 1996. The following year, DiCaprio’s star was launched into the stratosphere as in James Cameron’s Titanic opposite Kate Winslet.

As his career has grown, DiCaprio and De Niro have become great friends, colleagues and top-tier actors who have shared the screen on multiple occasions.

Have you ever worked with an acting ensemble that helped you set higher expectations on the way you approach your work?

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