Sorry, Leonard DiCaprio, but when is anyone in Hollywood ever going to tell you what everyone in the audience has been thinking for a long time? So let me tell you on behalf of us all: Stop! Yes, please stop accepting roles that you look too young to perform and are too young in terms of acting experience to interpret. Now either a Hollywood producer mogul or famous director is making you believe that you can perform roles years beyond how you actually can appear in the films, or that both that and/or you agree according to some misinterpretation of your own acting ability that you can perform roles way beyond your years. But you keep on doing this – you keep on repeating this same mistake and supposedly great movie directors who should know better – Scorsese and Spielberg – can’t get the magic He-Makes-Box-Office-Stardust out of their eyes. So they follow the money and keep on giving him roles he can’t handle. Now, given that we, the audience, are supposed to believe you have star power for umpteen years, now, and the fact that you can deliver a Box Office success in its first weekend, I fear that you/the Hollywood producers/your gullible fans, don’t question one fundamental observation:
Yes, you seem like a lovely, sincere, genuine guy but you ARE TOO FRICKING YOUNG FOR MOST OF YOUR ROLES. STOP! Let me give you some examples:
1. The Aviator (Howard Hughes) (2004). Real age of DiCaprio: 30. Actual age on screen, even within “aging make-up over 2 hours?” 24!– HELLO?! – CONVINCING AS A TEENAGE HOWARD but, NOT beyond that. Yet the film was supposed to convince us that you were the real shindig Howard Hughes through formative years? Anyone who has seen real-life photos of Howard Hughes during the period that you depicted him will know that you came as close to depicting him as I do to Marilyn Monroe (and I wouldn’t get close to be compared favourably to her butt-crack, if you’re asking)
2. Inception (2010) – I’m a cool guy that has seen it all, but I look 19 years old. Hello?!
3. J. Edgar (2011) – A 25-year-old actor giving the impression he’s the most formidable and powerful presence on the American political scene. Intimidating, scary and paranoid-inducing to those who really knew him. YET: In this movie, de Caprio looks like a young hick nobody and about as intimidating as a fart in a breeze.
4. Shutter Island (2010): Come on: We, the audience, are supposed to believe that this teenager not only has survived World War II, but has lost a wife and two children AND is a full-blown detective before we end up realising he’s a fricking nut?Hell-loooo!?
5. The Departed (2006): A guy from the wrong side of the tracks becomes an under-cover cop and is part of a major conspiracy-busting ring. Really? But he looks 12 years old! Hello!
6. Catch me if you can (2002): So he’s supposed to be the youngest white collar brilliant criminal ever at such a young age. OK! I give up. It’s based on a true story. But does Frank have to appear so consistently young throughout the entire two-hour movie? No!
7. Blood Diamond (2006): Yes! Well-meaning, well-deserved as a script. an important plot and themes. But are we really supposed to believe that this late teenager is a highly-experienced diamond smuggler. At the age of 25? Maybe there are such smugglers. But does he convince you? Thought not.
I won’t go on further. Since DiCaprio has appeared on the acting/Hollywood scene, he has increasingly, relentlessly been given roles way beyond not only his acting ability, but far beyond any credible age he can play; until he stops looking like a twenty-something, he should stay clear of any character outside of that age range. Maybe in another fifty years when he grows some real hair on his face instead of baby fluff. Nuff said.
Related articles
- Leonardo DiCaprio freaks out (heatworld.com)
- ‘J. Edgar’ trailer: Leonardo DiCaprio’s FBI chief always gets his man (insidemovies.ew.com)
- Leonardo DiCaprio in ‘Boogie Nights’ and 14 Other Roles Actors Turned Down (moviefone.com)
- DiCaprio’s baby face is an asset – msnbc.com (entertainment.msnbc.msn.com)
- The List: Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar nominations (goerie.com)
bobbygw 
I do not agree. Its not his fault that he looks so young. He has an amazing acting talent. No one better could have accomplished leading roles in all those films you listed above . Before you ask Leo not to take the parts in all those films you listed perhaps you can tell us what actors could do these jobs better.
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Hi Diana – cheers for your comment. You make absolutely fair points – how can he help himself from looking so young? Well, prosthetics and aging make-up has come a long way over the last decade – just look at Benjamin Button with Brad Pitt, for one thing. So that’s one way. But if he doesn’t do that, he needs to have the insight or his agent should to tell him he’s too young looking. But then when he has the biggest directors asking him to be the lead in their movies, how can he refuse? Clearly they think that he’s the best for their projects. I wonder, though, that they make think instead that while he may not be the best actor for those roles, he is certainly the biggest Box Office opener out of most stars. I suspect – I hope not cynically – that is why he has been chosen.
As for alternatives – you’re right, again – I should have indicated some. How about Philip Seymour-Hoffman? Probably the best American actor of his generation and proven as a real actor of many parts and depths – deservedly winning an Oscar in the past. Of course, he can’t do Box Office like Leo – but I’m convinced he could act more convincingly in the roles that Leo did that I listed.
Best wishes – and many thanks for your comment. Am looking forward to checking out your own reviews, too. Debate and sharing and contrast of opinions is what makes the blogosphere so great!
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