10 Best Leonardo DiCaprio Movies Of All Time
1. The Wolf Of Wall Street
To date, Jordan Belfort is DiCaprio's Lear.
In the space of one film, it is hard to overstate exactly how much he settles into and totally inhabits the character. He is, initially, an awful human being. The DiCaprio of Titanic or Romeo + Juliet is long dead. May he rest in peace, because Belfort is here to dance on their graves.
The film broke the world record for the number of swear words in a single film. That record alone is a good indication of the hedonistic, intense lifestyle that is depicted in the film. It seems so bizzare that anyone could survive the things that DiCaprio does, yet it is based on a true story.
The '80s. Wow.
The film, not unlike its main character, is a controversial one. It languished in development hell for a long time, though DiCaprio was attached from the beginning. There were questions around its finances and there were allegations over its depiction of animals on set. Jonah Hill went on the record to say that he made the bare minimum from the film ($60,000, which is the lowest he could legally be paid for the amount of work he did). DiCaprio pocketed $10million.
Yet, the results are stunning. It is a film about excess, ramming that point home over and over again. The film takes no prisoners, steamrolling through every scene. It is DiCaprio's command of this that places it at the top here. He came to play and to stay. He knocks both out of the park.