Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Leonardo DiCaprio / Five best moments

Leonardo DiCaprio: five best moments

Adam Boult
Friday 17 May 2013 12.48 BST

Whether you think of him as the modern day Robert De Niro or an overpraised Norman Lamont-lookalike (as people used to say), you can't deny that Leonardo DiCaprio has been in some excellent films in the course of his 20 year career – and was the obvious choice to take the title role in Baz Lurhmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

We asked readers to nominate his greatest performances – and here's an attempt to narrow it down to five of the very best, with suggestions from@TomorrowsEnd, @esmehaycox, @bobbyblowdart, @BafflerMeal and@amyjkhan.

Sadly there's no room here for his film debut in Critters 3 – let us know what else you think should have made the list in the comment thread below. Warning: spoilers and adult content feature heavily in these clips.

1. The Basketball Diaries

Here's a notably chuckle-free scene from the 1995 adaptation of Jim Carroll's memoirs, charting his descent into heroin addiction. It's always nice to start these top 5 lists off with something particularly harrowing.

Reading on mobile? Watch the clip on YouTube

2. William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet

Leo's first pairing with Baz Luhrmann, and the point at which he went from promising young actor to teen heartthrob.

Reading on mobile? Watch the clip on YouTube

3. The Aviator

Leonardo as serious grown-up actor in a serious grown-up film; his sympathetic portrayal of Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese's biopic makes the protagonist's inevitable slide into debilitating mental illness all the more gut-wrenching.

Reading on mobile? Watch the clip on YouTube

4. The Departed

Another Scorsese film, this one a remake of terrific Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs. DiCaprio is a cop working deep undercover in an organised crime ring, Matt Damon is the criminal who infiltrates the police as a mole – here, the two of them face off.