The only directors to have “made a masterpiece in every genre”, according to Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio is one of those people who manages to creep into every story committed to celluloid, despite having worked with just a handful of directors and often retreats back to the predictable arms of filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. However, he has branched out in recent years by adding a couple more men to the list, with an upcoming collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson that might just be the most highly anticipated of his career and a top-secret biopic with Damien Chazelle.
DiCaprio is slowly collecting his accolades through working with every man in the business and showing absolutely no attempt at diversifying his filmography, but despite this, there is still one other guy he’d love to work with to complete his Hollywood boys club.
The actor has spent long enough in the business to know the trademarks of a good director, working with some who are largely regarded as some of the most influential of all time. Whether it be Scorsese and his iconic gangster epics or Tarantino and his use of historical revisionism, his presence has marked some of the greatest modern masterpieces, with the actor becoming a staple in any auteur’s arsenal.
However, there is still a director that DiCaprio is pining after, gushing about his alleged ability to create masterpieces within any genre. Despite the glaring inconsistencies in his filmography, Ridley Scott is somehow heralded as one of the greatest directors of all time. While he has made some undeniably great films, with Alien and Thelma and Louise showing a true passion for innovation and immersion that was rare to see in mainstream cinema at the time, to say he is a master of every genre is a huge stretch.
Scott has not even been able to muster the energy to make great films within the genre he is most famous for within the last decade, with films like Napoleon, Gladiator II and House of Gucci going down as colossal flops that were borderline offensive to cinema as a whole. As well as this, his strengths clearly lie in his ability to tell stories visually, with the concept of character development and good dialogue often going out the window. There is simply no way that Scott could shoot a slice-of-life story, intimate family drama or comedy – substance is simply not in his nature anymore.
However, DiCaprio seems keen to take a whack at this style, saying, “Ridley’s been on my list of people to work with for a long time and there are only a couple of people on there. Besides Kubrick he’s probably one of the only directors to have made a masterpiece in every genre.” While Scott might fancy himself as a Kubrick twin, the directors couldn’t be further apart in style, with Kubrick genuinely proving himself as the master of versatility through contrasting classics like The Shining, Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut.
Each film adopted an entirely new visual language and tone, from brooding insanity to period satires and sci-fi epics. Scott might think of himself as equally talented, but the proof is in the pudding, and his countless recent flops speak for themselves. Sorry DiCaprio, but it’s time to go to Specsavers.
