Leonardo DiCaprio faces backlash for not working with women directors since 1995
Leonardo Di Caprio, who will be seen next in Quentin Tarantino's highly-anticipated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, was called out by Guy Lodge, film critic for Variety and The Guardian, for not working with enough female directors. He tweeted in response to an article in The Hollywood Reporter that called DiCaprio "Hollywood's last movie star."
Leonardo DiCaprio. Image from Twitter
Lodge wrote that DiCaprio has not utilised his star power to give "riskier stories (and talents)" exposure. He also pointed out that DiCaprio has only collaborated with major male directors like Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, among others.
This is all well and good, and some fine work has come out of it, but I wouldn’t call his choices adventurous either: huge studio prestige productions with established male directors. https://t.co/a1MJo04T9y
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) July 22, 2019
Anyway, I like that he's choosy, and resistant to franchise fodder: he's played his career well. But at this level of stardom, he has the clout to get riskier ideas (and talents) off the ground. — Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) July 22, 2019
Many responded to Lodge's tweet, agreeing with the points he had put forth.
Calling him "the safest actor in Hollywood," Kayleigh Donaldson of Screen Rant said that many American mainstream actors are known to rarely take up adventurous roles.
He is the safest actor in Hollywood. Not that many major American names on his level truly take risky or dangerous roles, but I wouldn't say he risks much working consistently with Scorsese, QT, Inarritu, etc.
— Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann) July 22, 2019
Are there any major actors of his level of name recognition in the US who are truly risky in their choices? I don't see a lot of those beloved names out here doing stuff like Isabelle Huppert. Maybe it's not a real Hollywood thing, at least if you want to be a star.
— Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann) July 22, 2019
Actress Zoe Kazan, who has starred in The Big Sick and What If, said that he is not the only star who has stuck to safer options.
(it’s not shade if it’s just like...a fact of what your choices have been)
— zoe kazan (@zoeinthecities) July 22, 2019
Yes, there are more male filmmakers out there, especially ones being handed a mantle of power. But given how many female directors I’ve worked with in my relatively short career, it seems like a real *choice* so many of these male movie stars have made, not to work with any/many
— zoe kazan (@zoeinthecities) July 22, 2019
And the reason this matters (sorry sorry, I thought I was done, I’m not)—is that there are only a handful of movie stars who can get a film of a certain budget financed. So how they use their power, whose stories they get behind...it has an impact on what ends up on the screen.
— zoe kazan (@zoeinthecities) July 22, 2019
anyway, *he* is not alone in this by any stretch of the imagination! there’s a slew of dudes (and women!) who could do a lot better.
— zoe kazan (@zoeinthecities) July 22, 2019
DiCaprio made his film debut in Critters 3, directed by Kristine Peterson, and has also starred in Agnieszka Holland's Total Ecipse. IndieWire notes that these are the only female filmmakers that DiCaprio has worked with.
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