Actor of the Decade: Leonardo DiCaprio
Three actors sum up the past decade for me and Leonardo DiCaprio is the best of them all. The other two close to getting this accolade were firstly Brad Pitt (Ocean’s Eleven, Babel, The Assassination of Jess James by the Coward Robert Ford, Burn After Reading, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Inglorious Basterds) and secondly George Clooney (O Brother, Where Art Thou? Oceans Eleven, Intolerable Cruelty, Good Night, and Good Luck, Burn After Reading, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Men Who Stare At Goats and Up In The Air). Obviously they both have had other films but the ones mentioned are my favourites of the pair of them.
Clooney was the closest considering the sheer amount of good films he has had in the past decade but he tends to play a similar role in each film, which is why he did not receive this prestigious award.
Leonardo DiCaprio on the other hand has done some absolutely wonderful pictures in the past ten years and played some very different roles each time. From one of his earliest roles as Richard in Danny Boyle’s The Beach to most recently his absorbing portrayal of Frank Wheeler in Sam Mendes Revolutionary Road (which I personally think was underrated).
In between that he has played some terrific characters each very different. My personal favourite is his adaptation of Howard Hughes in The Aviator, another of his great performances comes in yet another Scorsese link (in which thus far there have been four, with more on the way) as Amsterdam Vallon in Gangs of New York. Talking of Scorsese / DiCaprio link ups look no further than The Departed in which DiCaprio produced another outstanding act as William “Billy” Costigan Jr.
Let’s not forget Blood Diamond or Catch Me If You Can either, in which he performs (once again) incredibly in two very, very different roles. He even pulls off a South African accent in Blood Diamond.
As you can see Leonardo DiCaprio is my favourite actor so there is some bias to be had here, but in each of the films mentioned his performances have been flawless. With Inception (Christopher Nolan) and Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, who else) set to come in the next few months it is hard to see how anyone can top Leonardo DiCaprio in the next ten years.
Well done Leo, you’ve come along way since Titanic.
