Face to face with Leonardo

Bangkok Post 26th January 2000

Atiya Achakulwisut, Maui, Hawaii

Not many actors gain recognition by dying of hypothermia. But he did. In fact, after sinking on screen with the huge ship to the bottom of the freezing Atlantic Ocean, Leonardo DiCaprio's popularity has been soaring sky high. The mere mention of his name can cause girls all over the world to shriek with ecstasy. A modern-day Romeo he is. Yet, not much was heard from the smooth-faced, 25-year-old actor. Until recently, of course. Mr DiCaprio made waves again last year when he flew into Thailand to star in his latest film, The Beach. Adapted from a popular novel by Alex Garland, the film is about a British guy, Richard (played by Mr DiCaprio), who came to a beach in Thailand in search of adventure and a taste of "something different".


Richard got a mouthful of dramatic events, drinking snake blood to prove that he was not an American Gringo who would not leave the comfort of his culture, for example. He also encountered a rambling traveller in the next room down from his own, named Daffy (Robert Carlyle), who gave him a map to this perfect beach, unspoiled by tourists, before committing suicide by slitting his wrists.

Together with a French couple, Etienne (Guillaume Canet) and sexy Francoise (Virginie Ledoyen), whom he had a crush on, Richard sets off on a journey and finds the ideal paradise (played by Thailand's Maya Bay)-a community of western tourists living on a beautiful, secluded beach with enough dope to last their whole life.

Ideal, however, it is not. Events unfolded in a Lord of the Flies fashion (even if the director ardently denied any similarity) to show that humans are corrupt by nature. Even the seemingly friendly members of the idyllic community would do anything, including harming one another, to preserve their own interests. The movie is made by the Boyle-MacDonald-and-Hodge team (director Danny Boyle, producer Andrew MacDonald and screenwriter John Hodge) whose Shallow Grave and Trainspotting have won accolades from essentially every circle, especially hard-core fans of cult movies. The Beach, however, was stormed by criticisms right from the start.

To create their version of a tropical paradise, Twentieth Century Fox, which produced the film, sought for and was granted permission to bulldoze a few natural sand dunes, removing native plants from the beach front and growing 60 coconut trees on the island, which is a national park. The alteration drew heavy criticism from local environmentalists-some went as far as staging protests and filing a lawsuit against the production team. There has been a call sent out over the internet by a group called "Justice for Maya International Alliance" to boycott the movie.

(See sidebar for dispute about damage to the beach and whether it has been restored to its original condition-or not.) More than a year has passed. The Beach is now in the can and set to open in the United States early next month. Is the movie worth all the trouble it has created? Outlook caught up with teenage heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio and The Beach director Danny Boyle last week in Maui, Hawaii, where a press conference for the film was held-and the two were put on the spot.

Q: Do you identify with the main character's wish to be isolated for a while?


DiCaprio: (Sigh) I think everyone has a part that would love to get away from it all. This is especially true when considering what happened to me during the past couple of years and I chose to face it head-on rather than running away from it, which could have been a smart or stupid decision. I didn't want to become a hermit from the success of Titanic. I just wanna live my life.



Director Danny Boyle (left) and cinematographer Darius Khondji set up a shot for The Beach.
Q: Any other similarities or differences?

DiCaprio: I admire the character Richard for his courage in seeking out a place like that and to not just exist in an almost robotic life he had been subjected to. I closely identify with a lot of the themes in the movie. In a weird way, it spoke for my generation. There is not much that I don't understand about.

The book and the theme of the story is symbolic of our relationship with the earth we live on, too. We don't know how to respect our surroundings. All we can do is to consume everything in our path and make it comfortable for us with complete disregard for other places, environments and other living things.

In a lot of ways, people fall into a concept of paradise. But there really isn't paradise out there, especially in this day and age when everything has been discovered. There are less and less places left that are unchartered or unknown to tour companies. The whole notion of paradise is false. There is no place that's gonna rid you of your demons. It's something you have to find internally within yourself.

Q: Was it a professional risk to depart from a genre that has proven to be successful?

DiCaprio: It would be utterly boring if I were to repeat the same type of film over and over. Titanic in a lot of ways was a departure for me. It was an experiment and luckily a success. I am still a young actor experimenting with different types of roles that I wanna do. I think it would be underestimating an audience to think that they would want to see the same thing over and over again. For me, as far as this character is concerned, he is intriguing. He is very modern and up to date. He contains multitude, neither a hero nor villain, but somebody who is searching for something and he still doesn't know what it is.

Q: You must have been offered countless scripts a year, what made you decide to accept this movie?

DiCaprio: I think it offers a comment on society. How Richard discovered that the whole world is becoming Westernised and you can't escape it. Everything is becoming pre-packed and pre-digested. He can't find many things that he can connect with on a one-to-one level. Everything is pre-thought out for him. He even goes to a far place like Thailand and discovers that everything is set up for tourists. There is a McDonald's on every corner. It also says a lot about what a traveller and a tourist are. A tourist just goes along with whatever is given to him, while a traveller wants to experience the land that he goes to on a more one-to-one basis and get into the culture.

Q: What is your expectation for the movie?

DiCaprio: I just hope that people like it (sigh). I have been asked questions like: Do I feel any pressure about making money because of the enormous success of Titanic? Not just that you have no control over how many people go see your movie, but you have no control over how they will respond to it. It is one of those things in which all you can do is to be the best you can be. Give as much as you can in the project. After that, it takes on a life in itself.

Q: This is such a dark character who goes on a complicated journey. What did you take away from this experience as an actor and as a person?

DiCaprio: Richard constantly mutates throughout the course of the film. He is very human. He gets what he wants and he dismisses it and tries to get something better. That connects to who we all are. It is like being on a train, we always anticipate what the next stop is gonna be. The book influenced me about the idea of travelling and tourism. The fact that it is not the most noble thing in the world- being a tourist. It is not amazing to go to a different country and spend your money ridding that place of its own identity and conforming it towards being a place of comfort for yourself.

Q: There was a report about an accident with jellyfish during the filming.

DiCaprio: It was actually shellfish. Lots of crabs and lobsters (laugh). Jellyfish was not a serious problem by any means. During the swimming scene that we had, there was a school of jellyfish which roamed around. You got stung but vinegar took care of it.

About the boating accident, it was frightening for a lot of people. We went out on this little barge, which is connected to a small bamboo boat that we were filming on. It got caught in the ocean current and waves started crashing on the boat. Eventually, it started to sink. Next thing I knew, all the equipment and the whole crew was out in the middle of the ocean. It was terrifying for a lot of people and it is not something that I would like to make light of. My personal experience with water is I understood fundamentally that you float in water. So it wasn't the most terrifying thing for me.


Q: Were you shocked or taken aback by the protesters?

DiCaprio: I didn't face them and I never encountered one. I was busy working and involved in the process of making the movie. It was not to say that it wasn't a little bit of a distraction when we heard essentially a lot of lies going on about what we were doing on the island. There have been a lot of misconceptions. We have taken utmost concern and care with the island. From the reports that they have given me, it is in better condition than ever, certainly better than before we got there. Boyle: The environmental issue in Thailand is a huge issue. And I think anything that raises the profile of the environment is a good thing, even if we suffer unfairly.

I went back to the island last Wednesday, it just looked awesome. It made us very humble. You know that in a thousand years we are all just dust, but that place will just look exactly like it looks now.

Q: What is it like to be this famous?

DiCaprio: The biggest myth of fame may be the misconception that it is paradise (laugh). What fame has given me is unbelievable opportunities to do what I want to do, career-wise, which is a huge gift. I am more in the driver's seat than before in terms of the type of films I want to do and the direction I want to go as an actor.


Q: How do you cope with it?

DiCaprio: There are some annoying moments which do aggravate sometimes when things are printed about you that are out-and-out lies or a mutation of the truth.

Q: Such as?

DiCaprio: Such as millions of things. It can be really frustrating. But you get to a point when you adapt to it. You realise you have no control over many things. You get to a point when you say, look, the only thing that I can be that can represent who I am is the work that I do and what I put into it. My family and friends are an environment in which I can cocoon myself. This is not to say that I don't make new friends or talk to other people. It is to say that they have kept me grounded. We joke around constantly about the images of me which I detach from.


Q: Let's move to a more romantic front. When did you have your first love?

DiCaprio: Boy, I don't remember. My first love, that is a strong word. I suppose if I had found a true love, I would have been married by now, wouldn't I? (laughing).

Q: How about your personal experience in travelling?

DiCaprio: I always get something from travelling. I always pick up little bits and pieces, especially in Thailand. When I first read this book, I had no idea that there was a whole culture of backpackers who travel all around the world searching for something. That was the most amazing thing. I had no idea that there are so many Westerners in a far place like that who are all searching for a hippie-like, nomadic existence. The ironic thing is they are more set up for the tourists. I love travel. I get a lot from it. But at the same time, there is this concept of paradise.

Again, there is no place out there that can give you everything. You have to be packing yourself internally before anything else can solve your problem.

Q: Of all the movies that you have done, which one is your favourite?

DiCaprio: Oh boy! That is a lot, isn't it? For this movie, there is a line at the end of the film that really hits me. After all that Richard goes through and the discovery of the fact that there is no paradise, he realises that the world we live in is inevitable. What we are turning into is inevitable. He said at the end of the film: What else can we do? We adapt. We carry on. That really sums it up for me.

Q: Could you tell more about your experience while filming in Thailand?

DiCaprio: It was one of the best locations I have ever been to and one of the best experiences I have ever had. As far as I have seen the culture, they are such an inherently kind people. The Thai people are very sweet to foreigners. But at the same time, you get to see something like kick-boxing which is such a contrast to that. There is a violent side to the culture too. Watching fourteen-year-old kids getting on a ring together is something I have never seen before. Thailand is one of the special places on earth right now that is a giant melting pot of everything.

Q: There was a rumour that you are to work with Michael Mann.

DiCaprio: That hopefully will be true. We are in the process of writing a script. We'll see.

Q: Mr Boyle, was the success of Titanic a factor in the casting of DiCarpio in this movie? Boyle: I think what we are related to is what he put before that, which is What is Eating Gilbert Grape?, Romeo, or This Boy's Life. People just try to get great people to work with. Believe me, if you can do that, if you can get great actors to work with, over three quarters of the business is done. It is a fortunate spin-off with Titanic, which creates an intrigue of what Leo is doing next and we can't ignore that. Like I said, the beginning of the film is quite romantic. And it is tantalising as well as it goes on. He gets the girl. She is not available. It is not a charming thing to have done. It doesn't make Richard happy. And he starts looking for something else.

Q: There was a rumour that at first Ewan McGregor was cast as the leading man for this movie.

Boyle: I met with Ewan and told him that we decided to make the character American. When you make a decision on films, you know it is a good one when everything begins to fit into place. When we decided to make Richard an American, a lot of things came into focus. We knew that we had to transform the character to push ourselves away from the book. Like what Leo said earlier about the world beingdominated by American culture, the idea of taking one of those Americans, a difficult one, who is not satisfied with operating in the monoculture world and sending him to Southeast Asia became irresistible.

Another thing is with Andrew, John and I and a British hero, the film might become a very British event. Yet, one of the key things we wanted to do is to create an international experience.

It is not a British, American or French film but a mixture of all cultures, landing in Thailand and trying to declare a new world. It was a great decision. Ewan was upset. But I am sure we will be friends again and work together again. (Pause) Soon.

Q: You mentioned that nature is not something we can waltz into and develop to our taste, so how could you justify your altering the original landscape of Maya beach to develop your own version of paradise for the film? Boyle: You are absolutely right. I can't deny it. Making a film is an act of imperialism. You can't defend it as a liberal act of goodness. It is a savage act. Film crews damage wherever they go. We were aware of that before we started off. I am also aware of one of the themes of the film which is what you've just said-'cause Nature does bite back.

In the film, the characters had a few jokes about sharks, which did bite them. And nature got back at us, not just in terms of environmental protests but also weather. You think you would be able to film on time and it teaches you that you are very small indeed. The changes we made were really to inhabit the western cliche of what a tourist paradise is, palm trees on the beach and things like that. All we can say is we made sure, even before there was any protest, that the island would be returned to the way we found it minus all the rubbish which we cleared off. It was a horrible product of tourism anyway. We wouldn't do anything towards the environment, the culture or the people of Thailand that showed any disrespect. And anybody who did behave in a disrespectful way would be sent home.


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