Leonardo DiCaprio’s least favourite movie genre: “I have a little bit of an aversion to it”
For some, the sci-fi genre is not an easy one to get into. It forces us to suspend our disbelief and accept that things beyond our realm of understanding could happen, whether it be creatures that don’t exist or planets that we’ve never heard of.
From Alien to The Matrix, there are many films that have cemented themselves in cinematic history through delving into new worlds and creating rich stories that have never been seen before, leading us to indulge in fantasy and vicariously live through experiences that are so far-removed from our own, yet still appeal to the most fundamental aspect of humanity.
While it might be a brilliantly immersive realm of cinema, it isn’t always a top choice for actors, given the lack of tangible worlds and sets, especially now when so many are filmed in front of green screens and on sound stages. It might have been a different story in the past, with the likes of Star Wars being shot on awe-inducing sets that made everything feel more real, but now it can be a different story, with one actor describing his struggle to adapt to the sci-fi genre.
Leonardo DiCaprio might be an acting legend, but everyone has their limits. He might have played cowboys, detectives and slave owners in a myriad of genres, but the actor admitted that the sci-fi genre has always proven to be a bit of a stretch for him.
While he might have starred in Inception, which might be one of the most famous sci-fi movies of the last decade or so, the actor explained his ease with that particular story in comparison to the rest of the genre, saying, “I have a little bit of an aversion to it [sci-fi], because it’s hard to emotionally invest in worlds that are too far detached from what we know. But that’s what is interesting about Chris Nolan’s science fiction world, because it’s deeply rooted in things we’ve seen before. There are cultural references, and it feels like a tactile world that we understand and that we could jump into. There’s not too much of a leap of faith to make.”
In many ways, this makes perfect sense because Nolan’s films take place in a world almost identical to our own, but the system of logic within the world is twisted. We recognise the buildings, people, and cities; it’s just everything else that is slightly off-kilter.
DiCaprio expanded on the other qualities that make it easier for him to suspend his disbelief, saying, “But emotionally, as far as the character’s journey, I took everything as if it was. You know, you have to, otherwise you’re not invested in the character and not invested in the character’s journey. You’re not going to make it believable to an audience. Everything is real, in essence.”
Ultimately, this is the prevailing deciding factor for DiCaprio; if he can understand the character’s interior world, then the exterior world is somewhat irrelevant. All it takes is one story that you can truly tap into and understand, and if you can do that, then everything else is just a backdrop to the most important thing.
