Leonardo DiCaprio, who will soon star in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” sat for a rare interview with the director to discuss the film and their respective careers. At one point, the actor (who was speaking to Esquire) was asked about his status as a now-50-year-old.
He didn’t quite agree with that age.
“Here’s a question Esquire wants me to ask,” Anderson started. “’You turned 50 last year. Does it feel like a natural time for reflection?’”
“’You turned emotionally 35 last year,’” DiCaprio responded.
“‘Your age is 50, but your emotional maturity is 32.’” How does that feel?” Anderson said.
The role of the 50-year-old movie star is a new one for DiCaprio. The actor’s career has gone through many movements, from young, swooning lead to charismatic, established leading man. His past few films have seen him tackle a new set of roles — those of aging legends, struggling fathers and dark figures from American history.
Later in the interview, Anderson asked DiCaprio to answer “If you didn’t know how old you are, how old are you right now?” as quickly as he could. DiCaprio spat back “Thirty-two.”
Still, the actor (who will turn 51 in November) went on to give an honest answer about how his age has changed his outlook.
“It creates a feeling like you have a desire to just be more honest and not waste your time. I can only imagine how the next few decades are going to progress. I look at my mother, for example, and she just says exactly what she thinks and wastes no time. She spends no time trying to fake it,” DiCaprio said. “Being more upfront and risking having things fall apart or risk the disagreements or risk going your separate ways from any type of relationship in life — the personal, professional — it’s that you just don’t want to waste your time anymore. You have to just be much more upfront. It’s almost a responsibility because much more of your life is behind you than it is ahead of you.”
Both DiCaprio and Anderson reflected on their storied careers in the dual interview, while simultaneously looking ahead to their new film and the state of the industry. “One Battle After Another” will be the first PTA movie with DiCaprio among the cast.
DiCaprio cited this as one of his regrets.
“Any regrets?” Anderson started the interview by asking.
“I’ll say it even though you’re here: My biggest regret is not doing ‘Boogie Nights,’” DiCaprio said. “It was a profound movie of my generation. I can’t imagine anyone but Mark [Wahlberg] in it. When I finally got to see that movie, I just thought it was a masterpiece. It’s ironic that you’re the person asking that question, but it’s true.”
Of course, the role DiCaprio turned “Boogie Nights” down for was Jack in “Titanic” — at the time of its release, the highest-grossing movie ever made. Still, neither DiCaprio nor Anderson knew it would take nearly three decades for them to circle back around.
“Why did it take us so long?” Anderson asked.
“I know ‘One Battle After Another’ has been on your desk for a long time,” DiCaprio said. “It was a personal story for you in a lot of ways and certainly pertinent to the world that we’re living in right now. But ultimately, wanting to do this movie was pretty simple: I’ve been wanting to work with you — Paul — for something like 20 years now, and I loved this idea of the washed-up revolutionary trying to erase his past and disappear and try and live some sort of normal life raising his daughter.”
“It’s a nice character, someone who starts out wanting to change the world on the far left but gets increasingly cranky and closed off as he gets older,” Anderson said.
