MAN OF THE WORLD
Globe-trotting superstar actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who stars in the new movie The Revenant, has much more than movies on his mind— the fate of the planet, in fact.
eonardo DiCaprio is in Miami, preparing to leave for Paris to film interviews for his new documentary about the environment. These days the world-famous actor devotes much of his time and money to saving the planet, and this passion, along with his interest in history, is among the reasons that led him to star in the movie The Revenant (in theaters now).
The film tells the harrowing story of a savagely injured fur trapper abandoned by his hunting party in the winter wilderness—and forced to make his way home alone. Set in 1823, it is based on the experiences of real-life frontiersman Hugh Glass. DiCaprio, 41, who has starred in 26 films and is a five-time Oscar nominee, is up for Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for best actor for The Revenant, which is also a Golden Globe nominee for best motion picture drama.
Born in Hollywood, DiCaprio was the only child of a divorced mother, Irmelin, a German refugee. His dad, George DiCaprio, was a distributor of comic books. DiCaprio grew up in a very tough area of Los Angeles, among prostitutes, addicts and drug dealers. He was a small boy, lonely, with few friends. He got beat up a lot. “I never belonged,” he says. As a young teenager he landed a few TV commercials and, in 1991, won a recurring role on the TV series Growing Pains. He was 17. A year later Robert De Niro chose him for the movie This Boy’s Life, which launched his film career. But for years, he’s had much more on his mind than just being a movie star.
Tell us about your new documentary on climate change. We’ve been all over the world for this, from Argentina to the Arctic. I just got back from China and India. It was an eye-opening experience. We’re absolutely digging our own ecological grave.
You frequently star in films based on real people and events in history, such as J. Edgar, The Wolf of Wall Street, Gangs of New York and now The Revenant. Why? I like stories in specific time periods. The
Revenant’s era of American history was fascinating because it was this lawless no-man’s land. It defined the idea of the American frontiersman as man conquering nature. In a way, the story of Hugh Glass is about man dominating nature.
Why does that interest you? It relates to what is going on in today’s world in a much more destructive manner—taking over nature for our own luxuries.
Hugh Glass loves his wife and son, but his love can’t save them. Don’t you think this is a despairing view of love? I disagree. It is a profound, very deep love story. It’s the heart of the entire movie. Being haunted by their ghosts keeps him fighting.
Why is the role of women in the movie so small and the men so gruesome and dominating? This represents the savagery of a lawless culture. Women have been the most persecuted people throughout all of recorded history, more than any race or religion.
Is The Revenant’s depiction of killing wildlife for profit in the pristine wilderness two centuries ago meant as a cautionary lesson today? Historically we always look back at cultures that have been self-destructive and we talk about the ignorant way they treated the natural world, and we pass judgment on them. But the truth is that what we’re now doing to the natural world is a thousand times more destructive than it’s ever been before. We’re literally going through an extinction right now. We’re changing our climates irreparably, and climate change lasts tens of thousands, if not millions, of years. We don’t seem to be learning lessons from the past.
How did your commitment to help fix the world start? As a young boy I was obsessed with endangered species and the extinct species that men killed off.
Biology was the subject in school that I was incredibly passionate about. As a kid, I was going to be a marine biologist or an actor. When I became successful as an actor, I said, “Well, maybe I can lend a voice to this with an equal passion.” You realize how lucky we are, and how destructive we’ve been, and what little regard we have for the natural world. In a lot of ways [environmental advocacy] becomes a form of spirituality. And here we are, in this unbelievably heavenly moment on planet Earth, and look how we’re treating this utopia and the fellow life-forms that we live with. It’s disheartening.
You said your choice as a kid was between marine biology and acting. Why did you choose acting? Very early on I was always impersonating different characters, imitating people who came by. I loved doing that and getting the amazing experience of seeing people’s reactions. You see your parents laughing. It’s a communal family experience, and you share that love, you know?
Is acting an escape for you? Sure. Acting always represented a way out for me. I saw many things in the neighborhoods where I grew up that were pretty terrifying. Acting takes you away from reality. Being able to escape was important. Movies do that for me. Two hours inside of a theater can transport you into a completely other universe. To me, that’s the beauty of movies. What does acting give you that you wouldn’t get from a different profession? Life can get pretty monotonous. Acting is like living multiple lives. When you make a movie, you go off to different places, live different cultures, investigate somebody else’s reality, and you try to manifest that to the best of your ability. It is incredibly eye-opening. That’s why I love acting. There’s nothing as transformative as what a film, a documentary, can do to get people to care about something else besides their own lives.
You’re famous and rich, you can have all the women you want, do whatever you like, and instead you decide you’re going to concern yourself about the fires killing orangutans in Indonesia. Why? Because the idea of pursuing material objects your whole life is absolutely soulless. Steve Jobs [co-founder of Apple] sat on his deathbed talking about how greed and wealth is the root problem of everything. I believe that too. My career has given me so much from a material standpoint. I feel that I absolutely need to give back in whatever capacity I can. It’s my moral obligation.
You’re 41 and still single. Do you believe in marriage? That time will come when that time comes. The truth is, you can’t predict marriage. You can’t plan it. It’s just going to happen when it happens.
The Revenant aside, which of your films is your favorite? That’s like asking me to choose between children. The Aviator was the one where, for the first time, I felt I was taking adult responsibility for a film, unlike ever before. In my whole life, the two films I developed were The Aviator and The Wolf of Wall Street. They’re
‘THE IDEA OF PURSUING MATERIAL OBJECTS YOUR WHOLE LIFE IS ABSOLUTELY SOULLESS.’
projects from my production company that I put together from my own steam, and so they have a special attachment to me.
Is fame worth the price that you pay for it? Fame for fame’s sake? No. But if I wanted to quit acting, I could have done it a long time ago. I love making movies. I feel lucky and fortunate to do it, and it is absolutely worth sacrificing a lot of my private life. I don’t think anyone [famous] ever really gets used to it. It’s always surreal. At the end of the day, there are people with much harder jobs who sacrifice a lot more of their own lives to do them, people in the armed forces. I don’t want to hear myself complain about the hardships of being famous—because I do have the freedom to stop, if I wanted to.
What makes you happy? What I’m doing right now makes me happy. I’m getting on a plane to document this important moment in history, and I’m trying to simultaneously have enough time for my personal life and my own relationships.
So basically, you’re happy? My dad always told me, “Go out there, son, and whatever you do, I don’t care if you’re successful or not, just have an interesting life. Just be happy to put your pants on in the morning.” I believe I’m doing that.