Leonardo DiCaprio Reveals Why He’ll Never Step Behind the Camera

Leonardo DiCaprio says he has no plans to become a director, and he credits Martin Scorsese for that. The 51-year-old actor spoke about it during a conversation with the legendary filmmaker at TIME magazine’s A Year in TIME event in New York City on December 10.

DiCaprio has worked with Scorsese on six movies, including Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed. He says he feels directing is not for him because he could never match Scorsese’s talent. “Some people have asked me if I wanted to direct. I’m like, ‘I would never want to direct. I could never do anything close to what Martin Scorsese does. Why would I do that?’” he said.

The actor also shared that he wishes he had spent more time watching how directors work on set. “You play these characters, you try to get into the depth of their soul as much as you possibly can. And I would’ve loved to be much more of a voyeur … to watch what you (Scorsese) do behind the camera,” he explained.

DiCaprio described his collaboration with Scorsese as a long, detailed process. They often spend months discussing the story and exploring different ways to approach each scene.

“That’s been our process a lot, I think, working together … the ability to almost have a debate for months before and lots of questions, and lots of playing devil’s advocate about a way to approach things that may not be the most obvious direction,” he said. “We’re doing that on the new film that we’re doing now, but it’s been absolutely one of the most profound learning experiences.”

The actor called working with Scorsese one of the proudest moments of his career. “I grew up watching movies very young — wanting to be an actor. My father brought me to see Marty’s work, along with Mr. [Robert] De Niro’s, and said, ‘If there’s anyone you want to strive to work with in your career, now that you have the capability of doing movies, it’s with this gentleman.’ So I got to see Marty’s work very, very early on,” DiCaprio said.

Currently, DiCaprio and Scorsese are filming their seventh movie together, What Happens at Night, starring DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence.

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