ET Vault Unlocked_ Leonardo DiCaprio _ Unseen Interviews and What You Never Knew
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Tonight, Leonardo DiCaprio through the decades.
00:06 Now you have my attention.
00:07 Only ET's been there since his showbiz start.
00:10 I did my first television commercial when I was 13.
00:13 From his Hollywood growing pains.
00:15 This is TV, big show.
00:17 To his Titanic-sized stardom.
00:19 I'm the king of the world!
00:22 King of the world, never live that one down.
00:24 For the first time, never-before-seen interviews.
00:27 He's great.
00:28 Behind the scenes of his 31 films,
00:31 Leo on roles he turned down,
00:33 and the one that finally got him his Oscar.
00:36 I think people are gonna be talking
00:36 about those scenes for a while.
00:38 Plus, why despite having a list of high-profile romances,
00:41 he's only gone red carpet official twice.
00:44 I have a girlfriend right now.
00:45 Entertainment Tonight presents
00:47 ET Vault Unlocked, Leonardo DiCaprio.
00:50 You can't exactly put that on the title for ET, can you?
00:54 Leonardo DiCaprio, this is your life.
00:58 Welcome to Entertainment Tonight,
00:59 and this is why the ET Vault is the gift
01:01 that just keeps on giving.
01:02 Yes, it does, because no show has been with him
01:05 from the jump like ET,
01:06 and now we are unlocking all of Leo's Hollywood eras.
01:11 I feel extremely lucky every day,
01:13 and I feel like I hit the lottery,
01:14 and I don't take it for granted.
01:17 I'm the king of the world!
01:20 Oscar winner, activist.
01:22 It's important for people to give back.
01:24 King of charisma.
01:26 You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.
01:28 Leo, always chatty with ET,
01:30 has watched his movies gross over $6 billion
01:34 at the box office.
01:35 I feel lucky is what I feel.
01:36 As for awards?
01:38 Leonardo DiCaprio.
01:40 The global heartthrob finally won Oscar Gold
01:43 for The Revenant after losing five times before.
01:46 He also snagged a SAG Award and a Globe for the role.
01:49 This was a hard movie to finance,
01:51 it was a hard movie to make.
01:52 Leonardo DiCaprio.
01:54 That was Leo's third Globe after The Wolf of Wall Street.
01:57 I'm not used to this type of thing to tell you the truth.
02:01 And The Aviator.
02:02 How late will you party when it's yours to celebrate?
02:05 I don't know, I haven't eaten a single thing all day.
02:08 I have a pulsating headache right now
02:10 'cause this is the most surreal, weird experience
02:12 I've ever had in my life.
02:14 DiCaprio's co-stars.
02:15 I got to work with some incredible actors all around.
02:18 Hollywood's best, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro,
02:20 Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and of course, Kate Winslet.
02:24 I've got you.
02:25 I won't let go.
02:26 And Leo's not letting go of his number one collaborator,
02:29 director Martin Scorsese.
02:31 We do have similar tastes.
02:33 The duo has made six movies together,
02:35 most recently, Killers of the Flower Moon.
02:38 He has range and he keeps growing.
02:40 Leo's other passion.
02:42 Word on the street has always been, Leo,
02:44 that you were a bit of a hip hop head
02:45 and we saw that at your party.
02:47 ♪ I'll raise the low and keep it straight ♪
02:49 I have a range of musical love
02:51 that goes back to our stuff from the 20s, 30s, and 40s
02:55 with jazz and blues and then hip hop too.
02:58 Fans got a glimpse of Leo's rapping skills
03:00 in this TMZ video, but for years,
03:03 we've watched him be an advocate for the planet.
03:05 Did you come here in a Prius tonight?
03:07 Yes, I did.
03:07 Leo produced the solution-focused doc, The 11th Hour,
03:11 and also to raise climate change awareness,
03:13 he starred in 2021's Don't Look Up.
03:16 Climate change is compromising
03:18 the very livability of our planet.
03:21 It's not only about practicing this in your everyday life,
03:24 but it's about voting properly.
03:26 And while we always knew Leo was destined
03:28 to be a superstar, at age 18, he told ET this.
03:32 The whole Hollywood scene isn't exactly my thing.
03:35 I don't like to schmooze and all that.
03:39 Born in 1974 in Hollywood,
03:41 Leo was surrounded by the entertainment industry.
03:43 My earliest memories were of wanting to be an actor.
03:46 I was in such close proximity
03:48 to be able to go on auditions after school.
03:50 Early on in his career, an agent told Leo
03:53 to change his name to Lenny Williams.
03:55 Why?
03:56 Leonardo DiCaprio apparently sounded too ethnic.
03:59 He declined and got his first acting credit in 1979,
04:02 appearing in an episode of Romper Room.
04:05 He would go on to do plenty of commercials.
04:07 I did my first television commercial
04:09 when I was 13 years old, and I got my SAG card.
04:13 Very proud day.
04:14 He was equally proud to land a gig on The New Lassie.
04:18 His paycheck, $414 a day.
04:21 After that, Leo appeared on TV hits
04:23 like Roseanne, Parenthood, and--
04:25 I almost got the ones without the happy hog,
04:27 but they were kinda stuffy.
04:29 His breakout role on Growing Pains.
04:32 I mean, big show, big people, big,
04:35 they'd been with each other for so long,
04:36 you know, I didn't know how they'd feel about me coming in,
04:39 but they were really nice about it.
04:41 While on that show, Leo got his first big feature film break
04:44 in This Boy's Life, starring opposite Robert De Niro.
04:47 That's how big a Sturkey can be.
04:49 Thank God I can move on to something like this now
04:51 and be respected as an actor and not have been set in that,
04:55 as the public's mind frame as a series actor
04:58 or a teen idol or anything like that,
05:00 because it's not something I wanna be.
05:02 Call me Gilbert.
05:03 'Cause I'm Gilbert.
05:04 His next movie was with another big star,
05:06 Johnny Depp, in What's Eating Gilbert Grape.
05:09 It earned Leo his very first Oscar nod.
05:11 And while Leo lost out, he was kinda relieved.
05:14 I remember being really paranoid about ever having
05:17 to go up in front of a billion people.
05:19 I just don't wanna go up there, that's what I remember.
05:22 It's my boy. Daddy, it's my boy, right?
05:24 In 1994, E.T. was with the actor,
05:27 his co-star Mark Wahlberg, and his mom, Irma Lynn,
05:30 on the New York set of Basketball Diaries.
05:32 He's great.
05:33 He's cooler.
05:34 I'm just gonna enjoy it while it lasts,
05:38 because it may not last forever.
05:40 That year, Leo also filmed The Quick and the Dead
05:43 and showed E.T. his gunslinging skills.
05:45 A lot of different things that you can do with this thing.
05:47 But as for the future playboy's skills as a heartthrob,
05:50 cue Leo's 1996 hit, Romeo and Juliet.
05:54 E.T. caught him on set kissing Claire Danes
05:56 and trying not to crack up.
05:58 It's Romeo and Juliet.
06:02 There's a heck of a lot of kissing.
06:04 I mean, he's actually amazing at what he does.
06:06 She's a ball of emotion, a powerhouse,
06:11 as I like to put it.
06:13 Their red-hot romance movie rocketed to number one,
06:16 grossing $147 million.
06:19 It only cost $14.5 million to make.
06:21 When a movie actually of yours hits number one,
06:24 it's a different thing, you know?
06:26 People come out of the woodwork, you know,
06:27 that you wouldn't have expected
06:29 calling you to do movies for them.
06:30 But it was 1997's Titanic
06:32 that cemented Leo's leading man status.
06:35 I'm the king of the world!
06:38 (cheering)
06:40 King of the world, um, is that the term?
06:44 Never live that one up down.
06:45 This film is gonna be one that they're gonna like,
06:49 hold for future generations,
06:51 because it's truly an epic in every sense of the word.
06:54 It's a dope movie, for sure.
06:56 Leo was just 21 when he landed the role of Jack Dawson,
06:59 after Johnny Depp turned it down.
07:01 Director James Cameron says Leo almost passed on it too.
07:05 I've always had a prejudice against doing like,
07:07 a big budget monster film like that.
07:10 If it wasn't a big budget film,
07:12 I probably would have done it anyway,
07:13 'cause the love story's so great.
07:15 It's been rough, hats off to all those action guys,
07:20 'cause it's hard stuff, harder than I ever imagined.
07:24 I'm up on like this tilting poop deck
07:26 that's up in hydraulics,
07:27 I'm like 300 feet in the air looking down
07:29 at like thousands of people falling below me.
07:32 You have to take a moment and say,
07:33 how the hell did I get to this place in my life?
07:36 But the hard work paid off.
07:38 Titanic was number one at the box office
07:40 for a record 15 consecutive weeks,
07:42 and it's made over $2 billion.
07:44 I sat next to the prince, hung out with him, we chilled.
07:50 What did you guys talk about?
07:52 Oh, he just wanted to know about the different stunts.
07:54 It reminded him of how it was in the Navy, he said.
07:57 You didn't come as a couple tonight, did you?
08:01 Yeah, we came together.
08:02 We're good buddies.
08:03 Absolutely, just friends.
08:05 But thanks in part to his undeniable chemistry with Kate,
08:08 the movie became a pop culture phenomenon,
08:10 and Leo Mania was born.
08:12 (children cheering)
08:15 You got chased through the lube.
08:17 I was like whizzing by the Mona Lisa at 15 miles an hour.
08:22 Truth of the matter is, like I said, I'm very lucky,
08:25 and any time I hear myself complaining
08:27 about anything having to do with my life,
08:30 I make myself nauseous.
08:32 Leo followed up Titanic playing twins.
08:36 E.T. was on the French set of The Man in the Iron Mask.
08:39 It's actually quite comfortable after a while,
08:41 you get used to it.
08:42 But the most horrible thing was the fact that,
08:44 I mean, I got itches on my face,
08:46 but the Chewbacca set up is a little difficult.
08:51 Leo was on double duty again in 2002
08:53 as an Irish ex-con in Gangs of New York,
08:56 and a teenage con artist in Catch Me If You Can.
08:59 Please, I mean, it's my midterm next week,
09:01 and my books were stolen.
09:02 Ironically, in this movie, I'm 28 years old,
09:05 and I'm 12 years the senior of the actual character
09:07 that I'm playing, who's 16 years old.
09:09 He's not including his regular guys.
09:11 Leo does his homework when it comes to changing his voice.
09:14 He did a Boston accent in The Departed.
09:16 Every weekend, Sergeant.
09:18 It was just a matter of being able to hang out
09:20 with some people from Boston.
09:22 A Southern drawl in Django Unchained.
09:25 Roscoe, a beer for the man with the beard.
09:27 And a South African accent in Blood Diamond.
09:30 We fought and died together, you know?
09:33 You know, I went there a month early
09:35 just to sort of hang out with the locals
09:37 and let them get drunk and tell me their stories.
09:39 Leo's transformations taking on real life roles
09:42 have earned him critical acclaim.
09:44 This is incredible.
09:45 He won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar
09:48 for his portrayal of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.
09:51 Not only did he star in The Aviator,
09:53 he produced this eight-year passion project.
09:56 He told us it took one week to shoot that nude scene.
09:59 You get to know the crew, and you feel comfortable
10:01 in your birthday suit after a while.
10:03 But he never got comfortable wearing false teeth,
10:05 a bald cap, and colored contacts to become J. Edgar Hoover.
10:08 It became incredibly claustrophobic after a while.
10:11 At least there were over 50 different intricate little
10:15 pieces that they glued on every day.
10:16 It was a six-hour process.
10:18 Fast forward two years to 2013.
10:20 Leo brought a literary icon to life in The Great Gatsby.
10:24 I'm Gatsby.
10:27 That same year, he showed us his wild side and dance moves
10:30 as financial criminal Jordan Belfort
10:33 in The Wolf of Wall Street.
10:35 And it was just this sort of hedonistic atmosphere on set.
10:38 You felt like, you know, you were a rock star.
10:41 You be relentless!
10:42 [CHEERING]
10:46 From Wall Street to the wild, Leo battled a bear
10:49 and finally won an Oscar for The Revenant.
10:51 And if you're wondering, yes, that gnarly beard was real.
10:55 I had that beard for a year and a half.
10:57 I'm just proud that we have a great piece of art
10:59 to show for it.
11:02 Could Jack have fit on that door at the end?
11:05 Oh my gosh, I thought it.
11:06 I remember bullying my eyes out when I was developing.
11:08 I have no comment.
11:09 Can you-- can you scream for me?
11:11 [LAUGHTER]
11:12 Yes.
11:13 No comment.
11:15 That's all the comment we need.
11:17 And that wouldn't be the last time it was brought up either,
11:19 because when Brad and Leo finally teamed up,
11:22 a big screen bromance was born.
11:26 You buy a house in town.
11:27 You don't rent.
11:28 Eddie O'Brien taught me that.
11:29 This is a rare sort of occurrence.
11:32 It really came naturally.
11:33 But Brad and I, as soon as we step into these shoes,
11:36 it was one of the more easy sort of natural fits
11:38 that I think I've ever experienced.
11:41 He's a good egg.
11:41 And I'm really happy the restraining
11:43 order was lifted off of me.
11:44 And so we were able to work again.
11:46 He throws one of the best tantrums
11:48 ever laid down on film.
11:49 You're sitting there like a [BLEEP] baboon.
11:51 [MUMBLING]
11:54 Both Brad and Leo received critical acclaim
11:56 for their performances.
11:57 But Brad was always quick to give props to his co-star.
12:01 And the Oscar goes to Brad Pitt.
12:05 [APPLAUSE]
12:09 Leo, I'll ride on your coattails any day, man.
12:13 And the Golden Globe goes to Brad Pitt.
12:18 I wouldn't be here without you, man.
12:19 I thank you.
12:20 [APPLAUSE]
12:23 Still, I would have shared the raft.
12:26 [LAUGHTER]
12:28 Never let go.
12:30 Of course, that was a playful dig
12:32 at Leo's Titanic co-star and his number
12:34 one work wife, Kate Winslet.
12:36 We just like each other as people.
12:39 We were really bosom buddies.
12:40 I'd work with him again like that.
12:42 Kate would get her wish 11 years later in "Revolutionary Road."
12:46 We definitely aggressively look to work together again.
12:49 We're very lucky.
12:50 You know, we've never had a fight.
12:52 To me, she's the greatest actress of her generation.
12:55 He is the best actor of his generation.
12:59 And here we are a whole generation later.
13:01 And look at him.
13:02 Look at him.
13:03 For me to get married now would take a lot.
13:08 Marriage wouldn't be in even my realm.
13:16 Yet not much has changed for little Romeo nearly 30 years
13:19 after that interview, because when
13:21 it comes to being a perpetual Hollywood bachelor,
13:24 Leo is a model citizen.
13:26 I'm just a little jerk.
13:29 Are you a romantic guy?
13:32 Yeah, I'd say so.
13:33 You know, when I'm alone with a girl,
13:34 I'm doing the baby voices, the whole thing,
13:38 all that ridiculous stuff.
13:39 I have a girlfriend right now, and I'm pretty nice to her,
13:42 I have to say.
13:43 That girlfriend?
13:44 Then 22-year-old model, Kristen Zhang.
13:46 The two were hand in hand at the 1996 Romeo and Juliet premiere.
13:50 Does this look good on him?
13:51 Looks wonderful.
13:52 Leo was also linked to supermodels
13:54 like Naomi Campbell and Helena Christensen.
13:57 In 2000, he told us he wasn't looking for anything serious.
14:01 I'm happy on my own right now.
14:03 I like it.
14:03 But that all changed later that year
14:05 when he met the then 20-year-old model, Gisele Bundchen.
14:08 I'm absolutely happy, and you know why?
14:10 Because my life is balanced.
14:13 The two dated for five years, and many thought
14:15 Gisele was the one when Leo brought her to the 2005 Oscars
14:18 along with his mom.
14:20 Did you bring Gisele?
14:21 Yeah, we came and I got her away from all this madness.
14:26 They broke up later that year.
14:27 Then he began a new romance
14:29 with 20-year-old Israeli model, Bar Raffaelli.
14:32 Could you ever imagine having a high-profile wedding?
14:35 Ooh, I don't know.
14:38 I don't even know.
14:39 A high-profile wedding.
14:41 I'm still not married right now.
14:44 Their on-again, off-again relationship
14:46 spanned six years, coming to an end for good in 2011
14:50 when she was 25 and Leo was 36.
14:53 And 25 years old seems to be Leo's go-to breakup marker.
14:57 It is kind of insane sometimes.
14:59 Leo's 2017 romance with Nina Agdal
15:02 and his most recent long-term relationship
15:04 with Daisy Jones and the Sixth Sis, Camilla Marrone,
15:06 also came to an end when they hit 25,
15:09 though earlier this year he was linked
15:11 to Gigi Hadid, who was 27.
15:13 In 2020, Golden Globe host, Ricky Gervais,
15:16 publicly roasted Leo for his dating habits.
15:18 Once upon a time in Hollywood, nearly three hours long,
15:21 Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere
15:24 and by the end, his date was too old for him.
15:26 While Leo's dated a bevy of beauties,
15:31 he's only made it red carpet official with two girlfriends.
15:34 His parents, Irma Lynn and George,
15:35 are often his plus one to big events.
15:38 Who's your date tonight?
15:39 Oh, my mother.
15:40 My mom's running around having fun somewhere,
15:42 doing something.
15:43 I got to bring my dad tonight, which is awesome.
15:46 The Oscar winner credits his parents for his success.
15:49 They supported his decision to drop out of high school
15:51 to pursue an acting career.
15:53 Over the years, E.T. has talked to Leo
15:55 about his family's unwavering love and encouragement.
15:58 One of the things that my dad said to me very early on
16:01 is my only wish for you is to have an interesting life
16:04 that fulfills you.
16:05 We didn't have much, but I had parents that said,
16:08 "Look, our son wants to do this.
16:10 "This is his dream."
16:11 And they drove me every day to auditions
16:14 and they supported me.
16:15 They're special people.
16:16 Special people he's willing to share the spotlight with?
16:19 His mom and grandma both made quick cameos in "The Beach."
16:23 I've tried to get my mom in every movie that I've done.
16:28 Also in Leo's inner circle, Toby McGuire, Lucas Haas,
16:32 Kevin Connolly, and David Blaine,
16:33 the reported self-proclaimed wolf pack.
16:36 I have a good, solid group of friends
16:38 that I've known for a long time
16:40 that I trust with my life.
16:43 The guys became fast friends in the '90s
16:45 after running into each other at auditions.
16:47 In 2013, Leo shared the screen with his closest pal, Toby,
16:51 in "The Great Gatsby."
16:52 Action!
16:53 It was great working with Leo.
16:54 We've been friends for almost 25 years.
16:58 To be able to have a partnership and a friend like Toby
17:01 to enter into this world with,
17:03 who's always gonna have my best intentions at heart
17:05 and vice versa, somebody who I can always be honest with
17:08 was a huge benefit.
17:10 Having a retrospective of your life
17:12 seems a little bit weird to me,
17:13 but when you do that, you have to be honest about it.
17:16 Well, mission accomplished then.
17:17 But believe it or not, there are even more layers to Leo.
17:21 Here's some things that you may not know.
17:23 Has George Lucas approached you
17:25 about playing Anakin Skywalker?
17:27 Approached, key word.
17:30 We've talked about it.
17:31 I'd consider it, yeah.
17:33 Leo turned down doing "Attack of the Clones."
17:35 The role went to Hayden Christensen.
17:37 Another gig he said no to?
17:39 Hosting "SNL," but he did do a cameo.
17:42 (crowd cheering)
17:44 Am I flying, Jack?
17:45 Yes, Rose.
17:49 Yes, you're flying.
17:50 And did you know Leo is a member of the Beehive?
17:53 ♪ A supernatural love up in the air ♪
17:56 There he is at the Renaissance tour in LA on B's birthday.
18:00 And here he is in London at another show back in May.
18:03 But Leo's all-time fave?
18:04 ♪ Won't get back ♪
18:06 A huge Beatles fanatic,
18:08 so I've listened to every album on loop.
18:11 They're the greatest band ever.
18:13 ♪ Get back, George Lucas ♪
18:16 (upbeat music)