“I thought it was like a masonic thing”: Leonardo DiCaprio Might Have Never Became an Actor if He Had Believed a Dark Myth About Hollywood Growing Up
Leonardo DiCaprio began his acting career as a child actor in the ’80s appearing in TV commercials. He had small roles in TV shows before appearing in a major role in This Boy’s Life. Shortly after, his role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape earned him his first Oscar nomination. Before his humble beginnings, DiCaprio had believed in a dark myth about the industry.
Leonardo DiCaprio in his Oscar-winning role in The Revenant | Credits: 20th Century Fox
The Aviator actor revealed that until the age of 13, he thought Hollywood worked as a fraternity like the Freemasons and that he couldn’t possibly enter the field. He believed that he could only become an actor if he shared some sort of bloodline with the actors working in Hollywood.
Leonardo DiCaprio Believed Hollywood Was Like A Masonic Thing That Was Closed To Him
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator | Credits: Miramax Films
Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the finest actors in the industry, but he once believed that he was not allowed to pursue a career in Hollywood. During a 2004 interview with The Guardian, DiCaprio was talking about Howard Hughes, the man who inspired The Aviator, when he opened up about his old beliefs.
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DiCaprio, who loves to talk about his characters more than himself, shared that Hughes was an American hero whom he tried to bring to the screen for years. While talking about Hughes, DiCaprio shared that the record-breaking pilot had a laundry list of all the things he wanted to accomplish. The Titanic actor was asked whether he had such a laundry list as a child.
DiCaprio shared that he never had a laundry list, probably because he didn’t know he had a choice to become an actor. The Killers of the Flower Moon actor revealed that despite living in Hollywood, he never knew that he could get an agent and audition for roles. He believed the industry to be a “Masonic” thing where only a particular bloodline was allowed.
He shared that when he found out that he had the wrong belief, DiCaprio added that acting became the only thing he ever wanted to do. He shared with The Guardian:
I lived in Hollywood and, ironically, I didn’t know you could just go out and get an agent and go on auditions and try and become an actor, I thought it was like a Masonic thing, like a blood line you had to belong to – until I was 13. Then I realised what you had to do. It is the one thing I know I want to do for the rest of my life.
According to an interview with Shortlist, DiCaprio tried to get an agent at the age of 11. However, the agent felt his name was too ethnic and wanted to change it to Lenny Williams. The Wolf of Wall Street actor tried again a couple of years later, landing his first agent at the age of 13.
Leonardo DiCaprio Gets Emotional Watching His Performance In His First Couple of Films
Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape | Credits: Paramount Pictures
During his interview with Shortlist, Leonardo DiCaprio shared that he felt like he had won the lottery to play alongside the likes of Robert De Niro and Johnny Depp. He played opposite De Niro in This Boy’s Life and with Depp in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. While watching his performance in these films now, DiCaprio shared that he felt like a kid again.
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He shared that it was “sometimes emotional watching them,” adding that he was incredibly happy to have gotten the role. When asked about his feelings when he earned an Oscar nomination for Gilbert Grape, DiCaprio shared that he didn’t understand how hard it was to accomplish that at the time. He shared, “I absolutely didn’t know how to react to any of it.”
DiCaprio also shared that he briefly wanted to become a movie star early on in his career. However, he realized that his dream was to become an actor first. He rejected a few popular roles that could’ve given him the star status. DiCaprio famously said no to roles like Robin in Batman & Robin, Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars, and Peter Parker in Spider-Man.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
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