Leonardo DiCaprio names the most difficult role of his career: “It was a huge adrenaline rush”
It’s no secret that Leonard DiCaprio has put himself through a lot for his craft. He teetered on the edge of hypothermia while filming The Revenant, pushed through a scene in Django Unchained without breaking character after he shattered a glass into his hand, and endured multiple unscripted slaps to the face while filming The Wolf of Wall Street. But of all the physically demanding roles he’s played, DiCaprio says that one stands above the rest in terms of the strain it put on his mind and body.
In a past interview, the actor spoke about the process of becoming FBI boss J Egar Hoover in Clint Eastwood’s 2011 biopic, J Edgar. “I don’t want to say this was the hardest role,” he said. “But I would say pound for pound, for the amount of time we had to shoot this movie and the number of things that I had to accomplish just on a character level and a personal level of what I wanted to put up on the screen, this was the most challenging.”
The film follows Hoover’s life from his 20s as a lowly Justice Department worker to well into his elder years. It’s a sweeping biopic that covers both his personal and professional life, including high-profile political scandals, his close relationship with his mother (played by Judi Dench), and a clandestine romantic relationship with a male coworker.
For DiCaprio, the scope of the narrative posed a considerable challenge, especially when paired with Eastwood’s notoriously spare and condensed directorial style. “It was incredibly challenging,” the actor revealed. “I put a lot of research and preparation into it. The way Clint shoots is pretty amazing. It’s like a splinter cell unit, this elite squad of people he works with who know his every movement and know exactly the kind of intimacy he wants to create on the set. It’s almost like the crew disappears, and it just becomes reality. He likes to keep things spontaneous, with very little rehearsal, to keep you on your toes. You better come prepared if you’re an actor, because you’re going to go at a very fast pace and do a lot of different sequences in a row. It was a huge adrenaline rush.”
Acting aside, one of the most difficult aspects of the process took place before the cameras started rolling. “Especially towards the end, with the old-age makeup, where I had to sit in the chair for six hours,” DiCaprio said. “And having just a couple weeks to do an incredible amount of scenes—it was some of the most challenging work I ever had to do.”
Critics were largely unfavourable about the film, with its decade-spanning, non-linear narrative, husky voiceover, heavy age makeup, and head-spinning number of peripheral characters. But DiCaprio was widely praised for his performance, which not only humanises a larger-than-life historical figure whose legacy is shrouded in controversy but injects more subtlety and vulnerability into the character than even the script seems to suggest.
J Edgar is just one of many biopics that DiCaprio has starred in. While it doesn’t reach the cinematic heights of Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator or The Wolf of Wall Street, DiCaprio’s performance shines through the disjointed plot and reminds audiences why he’s one of the greats.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Clint Eastwood Newsletter
All the latest stories about Clint Eastwood from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.