Tarantino’s first written part for DiCaprio was an awful slave plantation owner named Calvin Candie in Django Unchained. In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino cast DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, a fading TV series leading man struggling with the realization he is a falling star in a changing moment in 1969 Hollywood. That turn is counterbalanced by the adventures of Dalton’s longtime stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), and Dalton’s next-door neighbors Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, for a Pulp Fiction-like pastiche of stories that connect in the final act.
DiCaprio doesn’t do many print interviews, but sparked to this opportunity because it was about the film and his, Tarantino’s and Pitt’s work that has put them in the center of the awards race. The 45-year-old who grew up in front of the camera to become arguably Hollywood’s biggest star, also wanted to discuss how movies are changing in the disruptive digital age. He steered clear of viral soundbites, and so didn’t want to discuss beyond his issued statement a recent bogus charge by the president of Brazil that he was starting fires in the rainforest, not wanting to throw gas on that momentary media blaze. The fact is, the global warming issue is an overriding concern in DiCaprio’s life and he continues to produce and finance documentaries to bring attention to the issue and to endangered animal species.
Deadline: You weren’t born in 1969, but the movie reflected Quentin’s memory of hippie culture and movies at that time. You explored the movie business in the period of Howard Hughes for The Aviator. And you see all the disruption going on right now. What’s better or worse about that glamour of old Hollywood in 1969, compared to today?
DiCaprio: I mean, if we’re going back to the ’30s and ’40s the thing that people often take for granted is how most actors were under contract to do movies, and as much as we think they had all of this artistic choice it was a constant battle of the studio system to let yourself out to go do a passion project. It was a chess game for how you employed, and they were churning films out like there was no tomorrow. That, in comparison with today, I think that we have a plethora of opportunities now, with the exception of the ability to watch them theatrically in a communal experience. I mean the types of films that aren’t major tentpole experiences.
