Leonardo DiCaprio Says ‘Little Kids’ Tell Him ‘I Loved “Wolf of Wall Street”‘: ‘Like, How Old Are You?’
Fan interactions are inevitable for a star like Leonardo DiCaprio, the former heartthrob turned permanent Hollywood A-lister, but some are more puzzling than others.
Though the Oscar winner is approaching his fourth decade in Hollywood, Variety recently asked him and “One Battle After Another” costar Benicio del Toro about which of their films connect with younger audiences — particularly those with a YouTube-and-Tik-Tok-drenched media diet, who might not remember the halcyon days of waiting in line at the cineplex for “Titanic” tickets.
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One particular film, DiCaprio said, seems to resonate with pre-teen kids. It doesn’t make him the most comfortable.
“We’ve probably both done a lot of R-rated stuff, so it depends on what age you’re talking about,” DiCaprio said of he and del Toro. “Some little kids come up to me and go, ‘I loved Wolf of Wall Street.’ Like, you saw that? How old are you?”
Released in 2013 and directed by frequent DiCaprio collaborator Martin Scorsese, “Wolf of Wall Street” easily ranks among the most hedonistic films the actor has ever made. Inspired by the true story of disgraced stockbroker Jordan Belfort, “Wolf” is set a cocaine-dusted ’80s where corruption and fraud were best practices in the financial sector.
Quaalude-induced paralysis, sunken yachts, orgies, child and property endangerment, Jonah Hill’s prosthetic penis, police shootouts and more abound in the film. It introduced the world to Margot Robbie, earned over $400 million at the worldwide box office and landed five Academy Award nominations.
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While DiCaprio doesn’t seem to have a shorthand for how to talk to young fans about federal indictments and drug abuse, he concedes: “I saw a lot of R-rated movies when I was young.”
Next, the youth of America will digest “One Battle After Another,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s revolutionary epic, which hits theaters Friday.
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