riley_dude

How would playing someone retarded be easy? Are you speaking forom an acting experience YOU had?

You think he was playing himself in This Boys Life as well?

Rivero

Yes, DiCaprio is a true star and a damn fine actor and, having just seen The Aviator two nights ago, is sure to get his first Oscar nomination this year.

DRG

The choices are limiting, simply because I think superstardom doesn't directly correlate with talent. I think he's very talented, but he's no longer a mega mega superstar. He WAS a mega superstar in 1998, while Titanic was hot. The Man in the Iron Mask was released in that wake and did pretty good numbers for the time, considering the movie otherwise would have probably did very little. At that point, if he wanted to he could've followed up with a quickie action movie or romantic comedy and it would have cemented him as a mega superstar. Not counting Celebrity, his next movie (The Beach was a long wait away and was not a mainstream-type movie.

Since then he's had some successful movies, but I wouldn't consider him the draw. A superstar? Maybe... A mega superstar? No way. Everyone knows who he is, sure. But everyone knows who David Hasselhoff, Pee Wee Herman, and OJ Simpson are too, but I wouldn't consider them mega superstars.

Fok

Overrated to the tee.

Sessa17

This is my exact reason why he is a MEGA-star. Leo brings a huge following to any movie he is in, his name alone probably brings more money opening weekend than most actors. The guys attracts press & fans wherever he goes world wide more than any star in Hollywood except maybe 4-5 other stars. The tabloids love him as much as anyone as well, all of that is what makes a mega-star not just BO power or talent. That is why he is definitely a mega-star.


Everyone definitely does not know who Hasselhoff is, you can find plenty of people that never heard of him or can't name what he is famous for, Simpsons doesn't count, he is athlete, & most famous for his trial, & I hate to break the news to you, but Pee Wee Herman is a ficticous character, he doesn't exist.

gnradd21

I definitely think Leo's a superstar, but not quite in the same league as Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks. Acting wise, he's absolutely as talented as any of them, but I think he needs to have a few more big hits where he carried the film (with no other big names playing supporting parts, as Hanks did in Catch Me if You Can) completely on his own. That's not an easy thing to do on a consistent basis, especially since Leo seems to (like Depp and Sean Penn and a few other really talented actors) like to really mix up his roles.

I hope The Aviator is huge, because it's getting great reviews and it would definitely prove that Leo can open a movie on his own, but I have to wonder: Is Leo becoming Scorsese's bitch new De Niro or something? He said on Larry King that his next film is another one directed by Marty, called "The Departed" and also starring Matt Damon. I guess three films with the same director in the span of a few years isn't a big deal, but at first I was like "up next...Scorsese again?? WTF?" But I'll never complain too hard about great actors and directors working together. What's even stranger is that I joked about Leo being Scorsese's new De Niro, but the next movie he actually has coming out was directed by De Niro, called "The Good Shepard". I'm interested

Buttmunker

It would be his second Oscar, as he was nominated back in 1993 for What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

Buttmunker

Leonardo DiCaprio's career has been exceptional - definite humble beginnings (Growing Pains), but then BANG! 1993's This Boy's Life and What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and received an Oscar nomination right out of the gate. Since '93, he's gone up and up and up - til Titanic (his possible peak, but he is still very young), then films that were compared to a billion-dollar grossing film (always unfair), and now he's being verrrrrry selective. Acting in films directed by greats such as Speilberg and Scorsese, and being in just one or two films a year. Frankly, you know he's striving for an Oscar, as his last three films premiered at the end of the year, not that there's anything wrong with that.

One thing I can say about the posts commenting on Leo playing Leo - he generally has a "pitched-face" of extreme frustration in each film, and I would personally love to find a image from each film to post to show, but that's impossible. Not that I mind the "pitched-face" look, it shows his humanity, but it also shows that Leo is in the film, despite the character he is protraying.

Buttmunker

Say what you want about Leo DiCaprio - but he's now a three-time Oscar-nominee (1993: What's Eating Gilbert Grape; 2004: The Aviator; 2006: Blood Diamond), and that's nothing to scoff at. I watched Blood Diamond yesterday, and thought he was great, accent and all.

I think he's making a career of

When they re-release the film Parenthood with Steve Martin as a SE, I hope they include the DiCaprio short-lived TV series of the same name as a bonus feature.

William Fuld

He actually joked about that last night on one of the red carpet interviews.

Edit: Scratch that, it was the Errol Morris opening.

james2025a

I don't think there is anyone that is truly a Mega Superstar. He has done some interesting movies and i think he is not a bad actor....but he is not a great actor either. His problem seems to be that he still looks like he is about 14 years old. I cannot take him seriously when he is suppossed to be playing a tough guy (Gangs of New York, The Departed). At least he takes interesting roles. A lot of actors after Titanic would stick to the same kind of role to try and keep getting big bucks. Kudos to him for that.

Groucho

Haven't read all the responses, but the poll is silly. Being a mega superstar is not the opposite of being overrated. In fact, several mega superstars are indeed overrated.

Mr. Cinema

Yes, he is a mega superstar. Yes, he is the best actor of his generation. Yes, he will win at least 1 Oscar in his career. Had he been nominated for The Departed like he should have been, he might already have an Oscar.

TheStoicPaisano

B.A.

He's pretty damn good at what he does.

Big Quasimodo

These poll options suck. He is underrated, in my opinion, by the majority of the American film-going public.

gotrice487

With only three choices, I went with overrated because I do not believe he is a megastar

The Bus

Hmmmm.... I don't know if he's the best actor of his generation. Ed Norton is pretty good and they're neck-and-neck, even if Norton's projects aren't as good.

And he's not a super mega star the way Brad Pitt is, or Tom Hanks. Note this has nothing to do with overrated or underrated since that's talking about his celebrity, not his acting chops.

pro-bassoonist

To put it simply, love it or hate it, he is one of America's mega-superstars!

Pro-B

Jericho

I guess it depends on how you define a star. Simply being in high grossing movies seems like a foolish way to evaluate things. I mean Ian McKellan and Orlando Bloom have done a ton of high grossing work of late, and I doubt Ian McKellan is a mega star. And it terms of Box office, there's probably none bigger recently than Orlando Bloom. So does that make Bloom bigger than Cruise, Hanks, Will Smith, etc...? Of course not.

In terms of exposure, he is a mega star. But exposure seems to defined by the media. The same people who do story after story on Paris Hilton, when I'm not sure anyone cares. So maybe they aren't the best people to judge.

In terms of awards, he does pretty well in getting nominations. So he's up there, though he's not in the elite level of award winner actors.

But if you look at the fact he gets top roles in top pictures, was the lead in the highest grossing movie of all time, gets nominated semi regularly, is talked about a lot in the media, and pretty much controls his career. Yeah I think you have to say he's a mega star.

Quake1028

Yep. One of the very best actors of his generation. I think if this poll were done today, the results would be a lot different.

Groucho

I was about to flame you, then I checked the original post. I didn't realize this thread was over two years old.

The Bus

Well, with the exception of stupid tabloid coverage, he does have all of it: box office success, exposure/recognition, awards/acclaim... I'd put him in the same group as Cruise and Hanks and DeNiro altough below them when ranked individually, depending on what you're looking at.

Buttmunker

Orlando Bloom may or may not star in blockbuster movies (I'm not a fan at all, so I can't say - or won't), but DiCaprio definitely is a lead actor in Major Motion Pictures. Not mere movies. And his films are enjoyable (yes, I even loved The Beach) - there are less than a handful of his films that I really dislike: The Man In The Iron Mask and Total Eclipse are among them. I never gave Romeo + Juliet an honest viewing, as I generally can't get past the language, so I also put that on my "Don't" list. I'll never watch The Gangs of New York again - not my cup of tea.

Ever since he got his big break in 1993 with This Boy's Life starring opposite Robert DeNiro, DiCaprio has never really looked back. Even when Titanic threatened to sink his career due to over-exposure, DiCaprio had the brains to wait it out until the hoopola died down (The Man In The Iron Mask was already in the can when Titanic premiered, and the movie studios figured they'd cash in on DiCaprio's fame - but their plan failed).

I don't know who or what drives DiCaprio, but the person at the wheel is putting the pedal to the metal and steering straight ahead. And I don't think he will hit the kind of bump in the road that Tom Cruise hit with his wacky religion. DiCaprio is too smart for that.

superdeluxe

Yes. He is the mega star. He has the highest grossing movie in box office history (and this mark will never be broken). Since then he has done period pieces and great films.

He could have legitmately been nominated for 2 acting awards this past season. He only does the choicest works, Sure, he could do a 'blockbuster'. Do you say someone is a mega superstar, just because they landed in a vehicle, that most know is going to do well?

Does anyone really think that Spider Man would have been a clunker if Tobey Mcguire was not in the movie?