DiCaprio

Since Titanic came out in 1997, when Leonardo DiCaprio gained the clout to make whatever he wanted, with whomever he wanted, he has chosen to work with the following directors:

• Martin Scorsese (six times)

• Quentin Tarantino (twice)

• Paul Thomas Anderson

• Steven Spielberg

• Christopher Nolan

• Woody Allen

• Ridley Scott

• Alejandro González Iñárritu

• Clint Eastwood

• Sam Mendes

• Danny Boyle

• Baz Luhrmann

That’s not counting James Cameron (who directed Titanic) or Sam Raimi (The Quick and the Dead, 1995). All together that’s more than a dozen of the greatest, most influential directors of the last fifty years. Leaving aside de Palma and Coppola, who are past their active years, the only other major names that come to mind that DiCaprio hasn’t worked with are Soderbergh, Malick, the Coen brothers, Spike Lee, Fincher, del Toro, Linklater, Cuarón, and Paul Schrader. It would have been something to see him work with David Lynch before he passed. Is there anyone else?

This point was brought home to me by the Scorsese documentary on Apple TV+. I had no idea how important DiCaprio was to rescuing and preserving Scorsese’s career after the ’90s. I had assumed it was the other way around. The man has taste, and he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is. Just imagine all the paychecks he turned down to work with these guys instead. For DiCaprio, apparently, there’s no “one for them, one for me” dynamic. He only makes the movies he wants to make, and if people want to see them, so be it.