Leonardo DiCaprio said Monday that he is “slowing down a bit” and intends to be pickier about the acting roles he accepts, even as he promotes his new film with director Paul Thomas Anderson.
The 50-year-old Oscar winner told People that while he is not stepping away from acting, he plans to choose projects more selectively. “When these opportunities come up, I mean, I can’t say no,” DiCaprio said of working with Anderson on the comedy-adventure One Battle After Another. He added that collaborating with Anderson felt like the right move, noting his long admiration for the filmmaker’s work.
“I think anytime would’ve been the right time, to be honest,” DiCaprio said, recalling that he became an “obsessive fan” after seeing Anderson’s Boogie Nights. “His films ruminate in my mind and they’re conversation pieces with my friends, they last.” He described Anderson as “the dude of our generation” whose films produce the kind of lasting work actors strive to be part of.
DiCaprio, who will turn 51 in November, said awards and box-office returns are transient compared with films that continue to provoke thought and conversation. “Accolades, box office can come and go, but those pieces of art, that you still talk about and still think about and still question, those are the films that we strive for as an actor,” he said.
In a separate conversation with Esquire last month, DiCaprio said he does not feel his chronological age emotionally, telling the magazine he feels roughly in his early to mid-30s. He said turning 50 prompted a desire to be “more honest and not waste your time,” adding that he is curious about how the next decades will unfold.
DiCaprio also acknowledged one long-standing career regret: not taking a role in Anderson’s Boogie Nights. “I’ll say it even though you’re here: My biggest regret is not doing ‘Boogie Nights,’” he told Anderson during the interview. He said the film was “a profound movie of my generation” and praised Mark Wahlberg’s performance in the lead role.
The actor originally turned down the part of Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights to play Jack in James Cameron’s Titanic, a decision he has discussed before. He told GQ in 2008 that while he would not necessarily change the decision, it would have been an interesting different direction careerwise. Titanic went on to receive 14 Academy Award nominations and win 11; Boogie Nights earned three nominations and featured an ensemble cast that included Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
DiCaprio began his film career in the early 1990s with roles in films such as Critters 3 and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and he has since become one of Hollywood’s most prominent actors. He credited enduring, conversation-starting films as the goals for his craft rather than the accumulation of awards.
One Battle After Another, directed by Anderson and starring DiCaprio, is scheduled to open in theaters on Sept. 26. DiCaprio’s comments come as the film begins its promotional run and as he signals a shift toward a more selective slate of work in the years ahead.