Leonardo DiCaprio - Softcover

Kieran Scott is the author of the True Love series, including Only Everything, Complete Everything, and Something True; and the Non-Blonde Cheerleader series along with the He’s So/She’s So trilogy: She’s So Dead to Us, He’s So Not Worth It, and This is So Not Happening. She also writes the New York Times bestselling series Private, as well as the Shadowlands trilogy, under the pen name Kate Brian. She resides in New Jersey with her family.

Leo Rising

Leonardo DiCaprio is the ultimate romantic hero, the most sought-after young movie star, one of the most gifted actors of his generation...and a complete goofball.

Tales of Leo's antics are legendary throughout Hollywood. On the set he keeps himself occupied by impersonating his fellow actors and crew members, playing practical jokes, and generally cutting up.

Leo has always been known for his joking ways. As a young boy he would entertain his classmates by doing Michael Jackson impressions in the school yard. But back then he never could have imagined that he would one day be improvising one-man shows in front of award-winning actors like Gabriel Byrne, Jeremy Irons, Gérard Depardieu, and John Malkovich as he did on the set of The Man in the Iron Mask. Talk about an intimidating audience.

But that didn't stop Leonardo DiCaprio. "Late one night we were shooting a death scene, and it required the highest level of emotional intensity," says Randall Wallace, the film's director. "Just as I'm about to yell 'Action,' I notice Leo has a celery stick sticking out of his iron mask."

Leo moon-walked between takes of the famous trellis scene in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and impersonated James Cameron, the director of Titanic. He was even a prankster on the set of Growing Pains, way back when he was sixteen.

Leonardo says he likes to run around the set to keep his energy going, and Kate Winslet and Danny Nucci, his costars from Titanic, claim that his attitude is infectious. Given the serious nature of the roles Leo has played, one has to wonder if he doesn't need to be silly between takes in order to keep sane. Half the time he's in front of the camera, he's crying (What's Eating Gilbert Grape?), overdosing (The Basketball Diaries), dying (William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Titanic), or trying to save someone (Titanic, The Man in the Iron Mask). It must take a lot out of him. But don't expect Leo to give up serious roles anytime soon.

"I want to go with things that have integrity and that I feel I'm doing for me," Leonardo says. To Leo, this means taking roles that challenge him rather than focusing on films that will simply make a lot of money. So what, you might ask, was Leonardo doing in the record-breaking, box-office-smashing, biggest money grosser of all time -- the unstoppable Titanic? Well, he didn't expect the insanity the film caused, but he took it all in stride.

At the Los Angeles premiere of Titanic, as fans screamed behind him, Leo said, "I'm overwhelmed. I've never made a movie of this caliber. It's pretty spectacular. But just try to keep it real."

Later he told E! that he didn't think he'd be doing another blockbuster-size film in the near future. "After the whole experience, I know it's really not my cup of tea -- all respect to...the actors who do that type of thing." Ever the individual, Leonardo is much more comfortable in small independent films like those he's made in the past, which don't necessarily attract a large audience. And yet with Leo's current level of popularity, it's hard to imagine his films will ever have problems bringing in moviegoers again.

In its 1998 spring movie preview issue, Entertainment Weekly put it quite nicely: "After Titanic, DiCaprio could probably sell tickets to a documentary about belly button lint."

And knowing Leo, he'd find a way to make it a hit.

Text copyright © 1998 by Daniel Weiss Associates, Inc.