David Poland Interview..The Beach

As long as we believe,
Nothing can come between,
The dreamer and his dream!

Rough Cut Features

Q & A's
Leonardo DiCaprio

Stumbling Through Paradise

by David Poland

Like Prince, Madonna and Cher, we need only describe the subject of this interview with one name: Leo. Oh sure, you know him as Leonardo DiCaprio, boy wonder actor. Leonardo DiCaprio, irreverent leader of the partying "pu*** posse" (as the media claims they've dubbed themselves). Leonardo DiCaprio, shouter of the phrase that plagues: "I'm king of the world!" But take another look inside El Leo. Remember, before he rose to heart-throb heights with the definitive post-modern teen love story (William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet) and a little movie about a doomed cross-Atlantic voyage (hint: it starts with a "T") Leo was acting his a** off with risky roles (mentally handicapped kid, drug addict, gay poet) in such highly-acclaimed films as This Boy's Life, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Basketball Diaries, Total Eclipse. DiCaprio talked with us about his return to complicated roles, the true story behind The Beach's environmental troubles and why he doesn't want to live in paradise.

Leonardo DiCaprio

rough cut's David Poland

In The Beach, you're playing a very unsympathetic, anti-heroic character. Was this crucial for you in your first leading role after Titanic?

That's a misconception. I'm not anti-Titanic nor anti- that type of character. It was a chance. I was trying something different, doing that type of character and that type of movie. This movie is more along the lines of the films that I did before that. I am a young actor and I am trying to experiment -- different characters and different filmmaking experiences.

Do you have to establish the kind of unrecognizable connection?

No. This character is neither a hero nor a villain. He's very human. He's a human animal who contradicts himself. He has this view that the grass is always greener on the other side, and he's constantly trying to achieve something more. As soon as he gets what he wants, he rejects it. In some ways he could be looked at, certainly by his actions, as an unsympathetic character, but in the end, you look at him as a human being.

But does humanity make paradise impossible?

It brings out the worst in people. It's a false notion that there can be a paradise. If there is a paradise, it should exist for everybody. It can't be an elitist group of people who cocoon themselves within walls of rock, and not deal who we are as people. Richard essentially unravels this community for what they are -- a bunch of self-serving people who only care about their own happiness and their made-up little paradise, and who are willing to sacrifice other people's lives and well-beings for that. That's no paradise.

Does Richard do it on purpose or does he stumble into it on his own little foibles?

It's a transformation within the character, and essentially he embodies this other sort of soul in a weird way with Daffy's character, who really represents and understands everything negative about paradise. Understands that once you've been in paradise, you can't go back. But at the same time, you can't live like that. There can't be a paradise like that. It is a false notion. He takes on Daffy's view that paradise is going to be all-consumed by the rich tourists and everything's going to be consumed throughout the world: We will spread all over the place and there will be a McDonald's on every corner eventually. Everything will become Disneyfied eventually. Richard tries to protect that, and becomes really vigilant about that. In the end he really mistakenly exposes everyone for what they are.

The same could be said of your life, attaining movie star status as you have. The illusion of a paradise, of being rich and powerful and creative.

Absolutely. Because no matter where you go, there you are, you know what I mean? There is no one thing. There is no next stop in the train station that's going to be your final destination. It's a combination of different experiences. It's always a learning process and you're always left to who you are in the end. You're left to your own demons if you have them. You have to deal with that. There's nothing out there in the world that's going to answer that for you. That's what this movie's about.

So the script really spoke to you.

Absolutely. Essentially, all the fame and fortune in the world won't make you ...You see it over and over again, with other people in my position. Even if they do have everything that they could ever dream of, it doesn't always work out and sometimes, unfortunately, they're not able to deal with it.

People love to judge and make an issue of every choice you make. Does that criticism keep you sane?

It does. I, thankfully, have a great group of friends that I've known for a long time. My relationships have not changed for the longest time. They've always kept me grounded, even through that whole Titanic after-period, which was really crazy, we're always sort of able to laugh about it. That's fundamentally one of the most important things. I know its such a cliché, but it's the truth. There's a lot of misconceptions about what fame is. You cocoon yourself within the people you care about. What gets to me was how one tiny little thing happens, and it's a fraction of what the real story is, and it becomes an event that happened. It gets mutated and becomes this growing monster of lies. It's unbelievable. I said this in other interviews, that there was no handbook for me. I couldn't go to Barnes & Noble and pick up a book on what it was like. "Being Famous for Dummies." I chose to not become a hermit, somebody who was going to live a protected life because I didn't want things to be said about me. Titanic was a phenomenon and there was a lot of attention put on the actors for that period of time afterwards. Everything they did was headlines. We're going to be headlines no matter what.

What was the biggest lesson you learned from Titanic?

That I want to take more time out between films. I like being able to have a long preparation time for characters and movies and be much more involved, for example, in this one, with the filmmaking process. Really being an intricate part of how it comes out and taking responsibility for that. That involves more time, whether it be the editing or trying to work on the script as a whole or character development or anything else. That's what I've chosen to do. And it could change. I could decide that I want to do three back to back.

Does that mean that you're going to produce or direct? You've created LeoFest, your own on-line short film festival.

That's just an outlet for trying to recognize young talent and the Internet is a perfect way to do that.

How do you make professional choices? The script? The director? The whole idea of something?

It's a combination of everything.

How did you decide against American Psycho?

American Psycho keeps getting brought up. It got a lot of attention, I'm sure, because of the subject matter.

Christian Bale said it was fascinating, like having a pencil stuck through his forehead.

That's a little dramatic. The truth be known, this happens everyday in this business. People say, "Hey, I like that script." And that actually was what it was for me. I just said, "Hey, that's an interesting script." And then it turned into this whole beast. I never at any time said I was going to do it. I had conversations about it, like anything else, like many other projects that many other actors do that for. But it was quite in contrast to the portrayal of me at the time. It was made a big deal over nothing. I eventually realized that it didn't mean anything for me. I don't think it really said much. Not that films that I do need to have a world theme.

And Star Wars?

I went to the Skywalker Ranch and I met with George Lucas but I have not seen a script. I don't know if it's done yet.

How about working with Martin Scorcese?

A dream come true. You could ask any actor at any age, and they'd like to work with Martin Scorcese. It would be end all for an actor. I feel so blessed to be able to do it. The man is truly the last great American filmmaker master.

Your involvement was really critical to him for getting the financing for a picture this big.

I don't even think about that. I think about being able to work with him.

Where does the film shoot?

Roooooma.

Do you like being out of the country for these extended periods of shooting, or is it like being on a set anywhere?

I love going to different locations. It's an incredible...I wouldn't say a vacation, but you get to immerse yourself in a different culture and a different world all the time, which is amazing. Especially going to Thailand. It's really one of the most bizarre places I've ever been. You can find anything and everything there, if you want to. Literally. There's no other place like it on earth.

Did the environmental flap over the filming of The Beach influence your taking the Earth Day job?

That was not in relationship with Earth Day at all. Earth Day was something I had been talking about even before The Beach. I really wanted to do something strong about my feelings about the environment. I'm sure you've been told all about the on-set environmental stuff, but it had a lot to do with the political propaganda in the country. We were used, essentially, like this test case. Everything that was said about what we were doing was completely false. We were used as a test case for the Forestry Department to be able to rent out islands to movies or anything else. We were targeted. This big Hollywood machine came in and disrespected this island. As a matter of fact, we took off three tons of garbage from the island. Then a lie started and it grew into something else and became widespread. And no matter what we said about it, there was no way we could contradict it because, you know, you hear that first in your own mind and that's what stays. It's unfortunate.

Are you bitter? Defensive?

Well, I'm a little bitter about that because it's a lie. People's perceptions may be a little tainted about our ideas of going to somebody else's home like that and disrespecting it. I would never want to do that. Ever. Go to a different country that I don't belong to and destroy their island.

I read somewhere that you have environmentally conscientious investments in your portfolio.

Actually, yes, I do. I consider myself to be an environmentalist. I'm going to be getting a hybrid vehicle because I think it's just too important. These are the last couple years in which we're going to be able to make this transformation. Otherwise, the oil companies are just going to be able to dominate the next couple of decades: destroy our ozone layer and flip around all the climates in the whole world and make it a different place to live. A hybrid car has 80% fewer emissions than normal cars do, and supposedly drive just like any other car. They have an electric part and a gas part. One feeds the other and they both energize each other.

Danny Boyle's visual style is very intense. What is it like to work with him?

I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly how he makes a movie. He's taking a different approach than a traditional filmmaker. That's what gives him an ability to take chances and experiment more, especially on a movie like this and Trainspotting. You see surreal moments that don't take you out of the movie, but make you feel more involved with the character and what's going on. An exciting rush that I don't see much of in film. I don't quite understand what his angle is and I don't know if I care to, because it just should exist on its own. He grew up in a whole music world and he's so entrenched by music. You can see that in his filmmaking process and in the end result, how closely linked his music is with some of the scenes.

Do you feel free to add things? The video game idea, for instance.

Yeah, we talked very pretty open about it. I can count on one hand how many directors would even have a conversation about having Richard in a Rambo-esque weird jungle-like video game in the middle of the movie.

Did you do research? Apocalypse Now. Deerhunter.

Oh, yeah. All that. As many Vietnam films as possible. Getting into that whole world. Because even though Richard doesn't have a real backstory, you understand that he's fascinated with violent counterculture film and stuff like that. We wanted to bring out the different elements that Richard has replaying in his own mind, that when he becomes isolated up on the mountain, he wants to sort of relive, or make real. Which gets scary, which is cool.

A book called Life's A Movie says that people of our generation have a movie in their head. And here you are the focus of what people are watching on screen.

There is a point in which you completely detach yourself from that. This has been said before and I'm sure it's boring, but "you" are not "that" anymore. It's hard to describe, but essentially that takes on its own form. And it has less and less involved with who you are and your own life and it becomes an image, or a symbol.

As a 25-year-old man in 1999, besides going back and looking at some movies and understanding Vietnam as a concept, what kind of connection do you have to that era yourself?

That's the interesting thing about Richard. He knows about Vietnam through films and Contra, a video game. He doesn't know the real experience. That's what he's looking for. In times of war, people have some connection of something to fight for and something to feel and a cause. He's looking for that cause, whatever it may be. He has no idea because he feels he lives in a world were everything is pre-digested and pre-thought out for him and pre-packaged. Nice and neat. He feels like the whole world is slowly becoming whitewashed, and so he goes in search of a cause and he ends up finding out that paradise brings out the worst in people and war. War brings out the best in people, paradise brings out the worst.

Obviously you found causes in your own life -- environmentalism -- but do you connect with Vietnam personally?

I have no connection with it. That was a different time and until we have something significant like that, I don't think we'll ever be able to understand it. I mean, what did we have? We really didn't have anything that even came close to that. The Gulf War. What was that? A joke.

Is Richard's regression to his animal side a reaction to his disdain for the modern world?

Yeah. He's addicted to isolation. He becomes closer to the elements. I really like the symbolism of him embodying this monkey, the protector of the island. The first thing he sees when he arrives is the monkey. That really sticks with him. He sprays the monkey with water and he enters this pathway into paradise. Then this other group of travelers comes and he sort of embodies this monkey character. Instead of the water being sprayed on the monkey, it's blood and it's reality. It's the real thing hitting him in the face. From that point on he's completely transformed.

Is he safer in the end?

He gets away with his own life, which is the main thing. He admits that it was a crazy, hellish experience. But in a situation like that, what can you do? Life may not be paradise. There may not be a place like that out there that answers all your problems, that I can live in, but we have to move with the forces because they are inevitable. The scenes at the end of the movies are really symbolic for me. There's positive things and negative things. We adapt. I love that word. It's a key word for me, about this whole movie. You've got to carry on.

Danny said Richard was a writer, but I see him as an actor.

If it's the performance art part of him that comes out more so than the writer part, I think that may be true. But it's his constant need for the consumption of everything and obtaining everything. It's a progression to this character obtaining everything he's ever wished for -- the popularity, the girl, the island, everything. But then he always thinks there's something better. There's got to be something more real and more intense and more fulfilling. He's never comfortable where he is. He's always testing the bounds of the environment that he's in. He's constantly rejecting what he already has or obtained, and looking for something more. Something that I think is really inherent within all of us, that once we get to where we want to go, we want more.

11 February 2000