page_title: Leonardo DiCaprio
section_title: 2010–2013: Collaboration with Martin Scorsese
hierarchical_section_title: Leonardo DiCaprio / Career / 2010–2013: Collaboration with Martin Scorsese
caption_attribution_description: English: The cast of Inception at a premiere in July 2010. From left to right is Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
context_page_description: Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor, producer, and environmentalist. He has often played unconventional parts, particularly in biopics and period films. As of 2019, his films have grossed US$7.2 billion worldwide, and he has placed eight times in annual rankings of the highest-paid actors in the world.
  Born in Los Angeles, DiCaprio began his career by appearing in television commercials in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, he played recurring roles in various television series, such as the sitcom Parenthood. He had his first major film role in This Boy's Life, and received acclaim for his supporting role as a developmentally disabled boy in What's Eating Gilbert Grape. He achieved international stardom in the epic romance Titanic, which became the highest-grossing film to that point. After a few commercially unsuccessful films, DiCaprio starred in two successful features in 2002: the biographical crime drama Catch Me If You Can and the historical drama Gangs of New York, which marked his first of many collaborations with director Martin Scorsese.
context_section_description: DiCaprio continued to collaborate with Scorsese in the 2010 psychological thriller film Shutter Island, based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. He played Edward "Teddy" Daniels, a U.S. Marshal investigating a psychiatric facility located on an island, who comes to question his own sanity. DiCaprio and Scorsese quickly became interested in the project in 2007, and the former co-produced the film under Appian Way with Phoenix Pictures. Because of the film's plot involving disturbing scenes, DiCaprio had nightmares of mass murder during production. The film was released to mixed reviews; Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised Scorsese's direction and the acting but criticized its "silly twist ending", calling it "supremely exasperating". Peter Travers called it DiCaprio's "most haunting and emotionally complex performance yet", and particularly liked his cave scene with costar Patricia Clarkson. The film was a commercial success, grossing $294 million worldwide.
  Also in 2010, DiCaprio starred in Christopher Nolan's ensemble science-fiction film Inception. Inspired by the experience of lucid dreaming and dream incubation, the film features Dom Cobb (DiCaprio), an "extractor" who enters the dreams of others to obtain information that is otherwise inaccessible. Cobb is promised a chance to regain his old life in exchange for planting an idea in a corporate target's mind. DiCaprio was "intrigued by this concept—this dream-heist notion and how this character's gonna unlock his dreamworld and ultimately affect his real life". Released to critical acclaim, Inception grossed over $825 million worldwide to become DiCaprio's second highest-grossing film. To star in this film, DiCaprio agreed to a pay cut from his $20 million fee, in favor of splitting first-dollar gross points, meaning he received a percentage of cinema ticket sales. The risk paid off, as DiCaprio earned $50 million from the film, becoming his highest payday yet.
  After playing demanding roles in Shutter Island and Inception, DiCaprio took a break from acting, as he wanted some time for himself. In 2011, he starred alongside Armie Hammer and Naomi Watts in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar, a biopic about J. Edgar Hoover. The film focuses on the career of the FBI director from the Palmer Raids onward, including an examination of his private life as an alleged closeted homosexual. Reviews toward the film were mixed; critics commended DiCaprio's performance but felt that, overall, the film lacked coherence. Roger Ebert praised DiCaprio's "fully-realized, subtle and persuasive performance, hinting at more than Hoover ever revealed, perhaps even to himself." Also in 2011, he produced Catherine Hardwicke's romantic horror film Red Riding Hood, which is very loosely based movie on the folk tale Little Red Riding Hood. Although it was poorly received by critics—Mary Pols of Time magazine named it one of the Top 10 Worst Movies of 2011—it had moderate box-office returns. He was also an executive producer for George Clooney's political drama The Ides of March, an adaptation of Beau Willimon's 2008 play Farragut North.
  In 2012, DiCaprio starred as a plantation owner, Calvin Candie, in Quentin Tarantino's Spaghetti Western, Django Unchained. After reading the script, DiCaprio was uncomfortable with the extent of racism portrayed in the film, but his co-stars and Tarantino convinced him not to sugarcoat it. While filming, DiCaprio accidentally cut his hand on glass, but continued filming, and Tarantino elected to use the take in the final product. The film received critical acclaim; a writer for Wired commended him for playing a villainous role and his "blood-chilling" performance. The film earned DiCaprio his ninth nomination at the Golden Globes. Django Unchained grossed $424 million worldwide on a production budget of $100 million.
  DiCaprio's next role was as the millionaire Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby (2013), an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel of the same name, co-starring Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire. DiCaprio liked the idea of
caption: DiCaprio (first from the right) with the cast of Inception at the premiere in July 2010
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