# Leo DiCaprio wishes now he'd done "Boogie Nights" instead of "Titanic." So do we.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 3, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758 "2004-11-03T15:09:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/1 "2004-11-03T15:09:31Z")
[Article here](http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1342370,00.html)
With the exception of “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and “Catch Me If You Can,” I can’t think of one single role Leo has been in that wouldn’t have been better with someone else playing it.
I’m personally glad he didn’t take Boogie Nights. I wish he hadn’t taken Gangs of New York, either.
Love this excerpt:
> [@](#):
>
> The actor - whose latest movie, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, opens here on Boxing Day - also admitted to developing a gargantuan ego after the success of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape in 1994, for which he was nominated for an Oscar and compared to a young Marlon Brando. He said his ego was once so big he believed his acting had “altered the course of history”.
It did, Leo. I never before believed that anyone so massively hyped could be so unbelievably mediocre.
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/2 "2004-11-03T15:20:07Z")
Your title is a little misleading. We don’t actually wish he’d done Boogie Nights, we just wish he hadn’t done Titanic.
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### Author:  [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/3 "2004-11-03T17:30:51Z")
I disagree. It was easy to be annoyed with Leo’s performance in \*Titanic \* in the wake of all the hype and screaming teen girls, but if you just watch his performance in the movie, it’s exactly what it should be … winning, energetic, and cocky. I think this comes across best in the scene at the first-class dinner table.
“Titanic” may have ruined his career and potential as a serious actor, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t one to start with.
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/4 "2004-11-03T17:50:02Z")
I think DiCaprio is a pretty good actor. He takes interesting roles (a hell of a lot more interesting than, say, Tom Cuise) and is very natural. He makes it look easy.
He held his own with Tom Hanks in “Catch Me” and with Daniel Day Lewis in “Gangs”. They had the kind of chemistry that you don’t even notice, and that’s not easy.
I didn’t see “Gilbert Grape” but I never think its too hard to act handicapped/blind/autistic anyway.
I don’t think he’s really complete, since I’ve never really seen him do comedy (as we’ve seen from, say, Hanks or De Niro or Nick Cage) and his small attempts at it in movies typically fall with a thud.
I could have seen him in “Boogie Nights”.
Obviously Scorcese, Danny Boyle, Spielberg, Woody Allen, Baz Luhrman, Sam Raimi, and James Cameron like him. But who are they?
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/5 "2004-11-03T17:50:24Z")
\*\*The Man In The Iron Mask \*\* was so poorly acted. Even the good actors gave bad performances. There are two possibilities. Either the director really screwed with the actors’ performances, or Leo is so bad that he sucked the talent out of his costars. Kind of like a talent black hole. Both he and his love interest in that film could have been replaced by mannequins with no loss of performance. Sure, they’re both attractive. But surely they can find actors with looks AND ability.
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### Author:  [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/6 "2004-11-03T18:29:21Z")
His range of physical expressiveness is quite decent. He can be intense, charming, whimsical etc. His physical performance is usually quite convincing unless he’s in a shitty project or has to rely on CGI too much (like when he had to confront and react to the sight of his “twin” in the _Man in the Iron Mask_ (painful to watch that “awed emoting”).
Indeed, he can hold his own as a _physical_ actor.
But dammit, when he opens his mouth…
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### Author:  [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/7 "2004-11-03T18:38:37Z")
> [@Chastain86](#):
>
> With the exception of “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and “Catch Me If You Can,” I can’t think of one single role Leo has been in that wouldn’t have been better with someone else playing it.
I think he’s a really good actor. I haven’t seen _Catch Me If You Can_ nor _Gangs of New York_, but I loved his performance in _Gilbert Grape_. He was good in _Titanic_ and _The Beach_, and he was great as Philippe in _The Man In The Iron Mask_ while being not-so-good as Louis in the same film. I even thought he was decent in _The Quick and The Dead_.
The problem is that he somehow, even after his work in _Gilbert Grape_ managed to get niched as a Hollywood prettyboy.
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/8 "2004-11-03T18:54:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Indeed, he can hold his own as a physical actor.
>
> But dammit, when he opens his mouth…
Maybe he can do the male version of _The Miracle Worker_… Leo DiCaprio as Herbert Keller!
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### Author:  [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/9 "2004-11-03T21:46:06Z")
an aside to Trunk, who said “I didn’t see “Gilbert Grape” but I never think its too hard to act handicapped/blind/autistic anyway” - Well, generally, I’d agree with you, but you really should watch his performance in this movie. It is, indeed, fantastic. And, as a bonus, you get to see a great performance by Johnny Depp too.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/10 "2004-11-04T02:48:35Z")
I agree that _Gilbert Grape_ was a real deal performance from DiCaprio. His scenes with Johnny Depp were fantastic.
He’s also shown some a lot of courage in some of his roles. Not too may teen idol types would take films that not only show the full Monty but show the star cornholing another man as well (_Total Eclipse_).
It’s hard to argue that he didn’t do what he was paid to do in _Titanic_ which was play a romantic male lead and charm the women in the audience.
He’s also walked through some roles but a lot of great actors have done that. I think Leo always has the potential to knock one out of the park. Maybe the Howard Hughs movie will be his masterpiece…or maybe not. _Gangs of New York_ was a little disappointing for Scorsese and DiCaprio got acted off the screen by Daniel Day Lewis in that film. I think the writing was largely to blame for that, though. Leo’s character was very underwritten.
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### Author:  [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2004, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/11 "2004-11-04T04:03:43Z")
I always thought he was good in The Basketball Diaries. But he was a kid then I guess. I never saw Titanic but it’s hard for me to imagine Leonardo acting like he had a big dick because of the Titanic aura.
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/12 "2004-11-04T04:07:12Z")
Leo makes up for missing out on “Boogie Nights” by wearing a special Dirk Diggler extra-long penis prosthesis everywhere he goes!
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### Author:  [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/13 "2004-11-04T05:17:15Z")
Add me to those who think DiCaprio is a good actor. Unfortunetly his legacy may end up being _Titanic_ and the screaming girls.
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2004, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/14 "2004-11-04T06:41:10Z")
I think he’s talented, but he got Superstaritis… when a star gets so big that a director becomes afraid to be tough on him, fearing that Superstarboy will walk off the set. So he gets half-assed direction, doesn’t have the right kind of talent to rip up a performance unaided, and then gets a reputation as a bad actor.
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### Author:  [@AveDementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AveDementia)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2004, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/15 "2004-11-04T09:06:18Z")
> [@Trunk](#):
>
> I didn’t see “Gilbert Grape” but I never think its too hard to act handicapped/blind/autistic anyway.
Dustin Hoffman made it look easy, but I don’t think it is. Try cringing your way through Juliette Lewis in [The Other Sister](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123209/) sometime. The voice she uses for her mentally handicapped character is the same one that school kids use to make fun of retarded people. Two hours worth… ugh.
I think DiCaprio’s performance in Gilbert Grape is overrated. Half of his characterization (the physical and the sudden verbal outbursts) was of a mental and emotional age of about 4-5 years old or younger, yet the pronounciation of his entire vocabulary was unflawed. He didn’t slur any words, drop any endings, have any mispronounciations or nicknames for things or people. He didn’t even have a hint of an accent. (And I don’t just mean the accent of the southern setting- very often mentally handicapped people have unique-to-themselves accents due to pronounciation quirks.) I could see it for a Rainman type of character, but there was no hint that “Arnie” was anything other than a child in his development. It bugged me a lot.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/16 "2004-11-04T15:12:12Z")
I really wanted to hate DiCaprio, if not for \*Titanic \* then for the fact that around that time he was Hollywood’s golden boy. But despite myself, I really liked him in _The Man in the Iron Mask_ and _Romeo and Juliet_.
[minor hijack]
I’ve only seen two scenes from _Titanic_: the scene where Kate Winslet gets nekkid and the scene where Leo’s character dies.
I think I’ve seen the best parts, so why bother with the rest? 😃
[/minor hijack]
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2004, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leo-dicaprio-wishes-now-hed-done-boogie-nights-instead-of-titanic-so-do-we/272758/17 "2004-11-09T08:51:23Z")
Am I the only person here who saw **This Boy’s Life**? He played opposite DeNiro in that, to the same effect that **Trunk** mentioned re: Hanks and Day-Lewis. I knew he was going places then (1993).
Unfortunately, as **SPOOFE** said, he rose too high, too fast, to keep his ego in check. But that doesn’t make him a bad actor. I find no fault in his performances in **Basketball Diaries** or **Catch Me If You Can**. That said, however, I can’t see anyone but Mark Wahlberg in **Boogie Nights** , and certainly not him.