Leonardo Di Caprio - Golden Globe Awards

OVERVIEW

MPAA Rating
PG-13 - for thematic elements, sexual content, nudity, language and crash sequence

Genre(s)
Drama, Biography, Historical

Running Time
166 minutes

Starring
Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin 

Director(s)
Martin Scorsese

Writer(s)
John Logan

Release
Wide Release

Leonardo Di Caprio as Howard Hughes

However conventional Martin Scorsese might be in directing the biopic about Mr. Hughes, he wisely chooses key incidents (set down by scripter John Logan) in the man's life to give us new insight into what makes one of the most interesting figures of the 20th Century tick. A Renaissance man who. having early on inherited a dominant position in his deceased father's prospering tool business, he refuses to spend his life making mundane implements but instead takes great risks that threaten to bankrupt him should his grandiose ideas not pan out–as they often do not. Fascinated by Hollywood particularly at a time that sound features are coming out for the first time, Hughes directs a World War I epic in 1930 called "Hell's Angels," a slow-moving corny story that introduces the world to Jean Harlow, a movie until then unmatched for visual spectacle. His "Scarface" introduced Pul Muni to the screen while "The Outlaw" in 1941 featured Jane Russell in a role that has Hughes face a panel of motion picture censors concerned about the extensive "mammaries" of the celebrated actress.

His activities in buying the RKO Pictures Corporation are skipped over by Scorcese to give the film audience time to watch the man in action as the founder of the Hughes Aircraft Company, personally flying to set a landplane speed record of 352 miles per hour, then lowering the transcontinental flight time record to 7 hours 28 minutes. Ultimately he would work on an eight-engine, wooden flying boat intended to carry 750 passengers, piloting the machine personally in 1947 for one mile.

Key scenes in Scorsese's film at times glorify this larger-than-life figure, making us in the audience root for him when he lands in conflict with those out to crush his company (by now he had purchased TWA) and his spirit. The film is dominated by two major aspects of his adult life: 1) his affairs with Hollywood actresses Katherine Hepburn and Ava Gardner; 2) his fanatical energy both in coming up with ideas and trying to put them into operation.

In the role of Howard Hughes, Leonardo Di Caprio presumably hopes to pick up an Oscar trophy but which, though more than competently performed falls short of the kind of imaginative leap and sympathetic pull on the audience that can be attributed to, say, Don Cheadle as the hotel manager who saves 1,200 members of the Tutsi tribe from Hutu massacre in "Hotel Rwanda." Occasionally shown in extreme close-up, Di Caprio's Hughes comes off as a man whose eyes flash the fire of one possessed, an impatient businessman given to shake his legs impatiently when seated and, strangely enough in two instances to repeat the same words over and over at least a dozen times when he appears not to be under any particular stress. In fact the man comes off best when questioned by the chairman of U.S. Senate committee led by the senator from Maine (played winningly by the always excellent Alan Alda), speaking clearly and strongly without the aid of a lawyer in getting the spectators on his side when accused by the senator of war profiteering.

The Aviator - poster

Scorsese also shows Hughes' fascination with liberated women who come off just short of being attainable. Cate Blanchett in the role of Katherine Hepburn speaks boldly to Hughes as she beats him at golf: close your eyes and listen to her voice and you'd swear that Blanchett is merely lip-synching the words of Hepburn herself. The film's best comic scene takes place in Hepburn's home where each member of her eccentric, extended family blathers on at dinner about a subject of his or her own choosing without focus. When one diner expresses the view that "we don't care about money," Hughes replies, "That's because you have it," an obvious retort but one which does not go over too well with these Connecticut aristocrats. 

After Hepburn dumps Hughes because she is in love with the already married Spencer Tracy, he meets his match in an even stronger-willed Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) who, insisting that she is "not for sale" refuses his offer of one of the most exotic sapphire necklaces ever made. "You can buy me dinner," sums her up, but despite her penchant for putting Hughes off, she turns up when the man needs support the most–when holed up in his home, adhesive tape setting the boundaries of almost every square inch to delineate a "germ-free zone."

"The Aviator," which also features Alec Baldwin as the dapper owner of Pan Am seeking to buy Hughes's TWA and John C. Reilly taking care of the business end, is a must-see for students and holders of Master's degrees in Business Administration and by extension for major executives everywhere. Whether it can be sold in the youth market given how young people seem to make heroes out of Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan, is an arguable point, but surely "The Aviator," which, if ever shown on airlines will surely cut a segment that finds Hughes severely injured in a graphically shown crash of his Hercules plane, is a mature, professionally made film, well cast and showing off John Logan's often crackling dialogue–an epic adventure and a solid entry into the film world for the year 2004.

Now He's The King of the Skies!'

His name allegedly derives from his German mother Irmalin's having experienced a sudden kick from her unborn boy while enjoying a DaVinci painting at the Uffizi! In the year following his birth, she and his Italian father George were divorced. He grew up in Echo Park, then a particularly seedy, drug-dominated area of Los Angeles. At five he appeared on his favorite TV show, 'Romper Room,' and was nearly thrown off for misbehaving!

The Aviator - Leonardo Di Caprio takes to the skies

After a string of commercials, educational films ('Mickey's Safety Club'), occasional parts in TV series, a debut film role as Josh in 'Critters 3' (1991), a continuing role as the homeless boy Luke in the TV series 'Growing Pains,' he got his break-through part as Toby in 'This Boy's Life' (1993), co-starring with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin. The part led the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics to name him runner-up for Best Supporting Actor.

His first Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations came for the difficult role of Arnie in 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' (1993). Equally challenging parts were a drug-troubled Jim Carroll in 'The Basketball Diaries' (1995), the tormented homosexual poet Rimbaud in 'Total Eclipse' (1995) and the male lead in a very updated 'Romeo + Juliet' (1996). True superstardom came to DiCaprio playing Jack Dawson in 'Titanic' in 1997.

Chatting with the young man this afternoon, he is noticably tired due to the premiere last night of his new film, 'The Aviator' - in which the actor assumes the role of the young and complex Howard Hughes. Wearing a black t-shirt, black casual jacket, with his hair slicked back, the perennially youthful 30-year old star, has remained intensely passionate about bringing Hughes' life to the screen for several years. "As an actor, you're constantly searching for that great character," DiCaprio explains, when asked why the fascination for Hughes.

 "Also, being a history buff and learning about people in our past and amazing things that they've done, I came across a book about Howard Hughes and he was set up as basically, the most multi-dimensional character I could ever come across. Often, people have tried to define him in biographies, but no one seems to be able to categorize him. He was one of the most complicated men of the last century and so I got this book, brought it to Michael Mann and John Logan came onboard and really came up with the concept, saying, 'you can do ten different movies about Howard Hughes. Let's focus on his younger years. 

Let's watch his initial descent into madness but meanwhile, have the backdrop of early Hollywood, these daring pioneers in the world of aviation that were like astronauts that went out and went out and risked their lives to further the cause of aviation. [He was] the first American billionaire who had all the resources in the world but was somehow unable to find any sense of peace of happiness'. It's that great see-saw act in the movie that goes on. On one side, he's having all the successes in the world and on the other side the tiny microbes and germs are the things that are taking him downwards."

What level of admiration do you have for this great man?

"I think he certainly took things farther than I could ever imagine," the actor insists. "He was such an obsessed human being and remained so obsessive about everything he'd gotten involved with, whether it be planes, women or films, he made."

While DiCaprio has remained as ferociously guarded about his private life as Hughes was intensely shy, the actor says those two apparent parallels are miles apart from each other. "I have to say, that for the most part, I am a pretty private person while his came from a genuine mental disorder and I'm just fundamentally not like that. My reasons for being a private person are different from Mr. Hughes, in that because I'm an actor and want people to believe me in different roles and not necessarily know way too much about me. I want to be around in the business for a long time, while he had an intense fear of being around people and germs."

While 'The Aviator' is a film about the early youthful ambitions of Howard Hughes, when it comes to DiCaprio's own childhood dreams and obsessions, the actor says there was really only one, "... ever since I got into this business at around 13 years old and that was to be in this business forever. Once I did my first television commercial, I caught that itch, that bug, and said, it is possible to make a living doing this for the rest of my life, that is the only thing I really want to do. He had multiple dreams. I look at film and cinema as legitimate an art form as sculpture, painting or anything else. We're in the first hundred years of cinema, which is still in its infancy and I'm very curious to see what types of films last into the next thousand years, just like what paintings people still look at. I want to be a part of pieces of art as far as cinema is concerned, that people will want to see for generations to come."

Who was one of your greatest influences during your formative years?

"I remember the casting session that I had where I was a break dancer, having this punk hair cut. They rejected me and I became really disillusioned with the business and said well this is what it's all about, and I haven't even got in to read a line. My father said don't worry, some day we're going to get you back into this and it's going to happen for you, which I kind of took to heart," DiCaprio recalls. "It was one of those situations where I was lucky and fortunate enough to be at the right places at the right time", he adds, referring to his early television breaks that included the likes of 'Parenthood' and 'Growing Pains.' "All of a sudden I was on the set of 'Growing Pains' and got this audition for 'This Boy's Life' and was able to jump into the feature film world. It's really been just simply the fact that I'd been able to work, you know what I mean? I would probably still be trying to be an actor even if I was out of work, but I would probably become a little disillusioned at some point and move on to other things. But it's the one thing that I know that I love."

As for future projects, DiCaprio says they do not include 'Alexander the Great,' which at one time was going to be a Scorsese project. "Alexander The Great was one of those things where Scorsese and I just share the same taste in similar things. We were both fascinated with Alexander The Great as well as Howard Hughes. They're completely different time periods and different men, but similar dynamics, men that keep on reaching for their ultimate goal and stop at nothing until they achieve that. It just happened to be that this script and project was way further advanced in the development stage than the script that landed in our lap from 'Alexander' and we wanted to go forth - we had an intention at one time of doing them both, but you don't get everything you want all the time."

Director Martin Scorsese puts the disappointment of Gangs Of New York behind him to breathe life into complex American playboy Howard Hughes.

A legend in American history, the range and depth of his character needed a resourceful actor to capture his essence - Leonardo DiCaprio. Only lingering on Hughes' childhood to cast light on his cleanliness obsession (his mother terrified him with tales of cholera), Scorsese skilfully sketches in the character of the man courtesy of his sideline as movie producer.

So we see the young movie mogul blowing millions on the World War I flying feature Hell's Angels, badgering a rival studio for cameras and ordering Ian Holm's meteorologist to "find clouds". The movie had to be re-shot to accommodate the new-fangled soundtrack and also cost the lives of three stunt pilotsbut proved a box office smash. Unencumbered by doubt and driven by an uncompromising quest for perfection, the obsessive maverick would go on to apply his obsessive standards to the Hughes Aircraft Company, and subsequently TWA.

The aircraft-obsessed mogul also enjoyed a high-flying personal life, squiring the likes of Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow and Bette Davis. The spikily intelligent Katharine Hepburn (Blanchett, superb) is the irascible love of his life, while Kate Beckinsale gives good hair-toss as Ava Gardner. Focused and beautifully paced, this doesn't disappoint visually, with some stunningly shot aerial shots, particularly Hughes' roof-tile shattering crash-landing in the Hollywood Hills. Hughes was such a larger-than-life character that he needed a director with larger-than-life skills to capture his spirit. Scorsese is well up to the task.

THE AVIATOR

(Cinematografo.it/Adnkronos) - The Aviator è il miglior film del 2004. A incoronare il kolossal di Martin Scorsese sulla vita del miliardario produttore Howard Hughes è stata  la Conferenza Episcopale degli Stati Uniti (Usccb) che ha premiato, oltre al valore dell'opera, l'impegno del regista nel diffondere un messaggio allo stesso tempo didattico e ludico. Nella top ten stilata dalla Usccb compare, all'ottavo posto, anche il discusso film di Mel Gibson sulle ultime 12 ore di vita di Gesù, La Passione di Cristo.

Drame biographique réalisé par Martin Scorsese. Avec Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilley, Kate Beckinsale.

ÇA RACONTE : Les 20 premières années de la carrière professionnelle du milliardaire Howard Hughes, passionné de cinéma, d'aviation, et de femmes.

ON NOTE : Tournée en grande partie à Montréal, cette imposante production est née grâce à l'entêtement de Leonardo DiCaprio qui, après avoir travaillé un temps avec le cinéaste Michael Mann, a ensuite fait appel à Martin Scorsese (celui-là même qui l'a dirigé dans Gangs of New York) pour assurer la réalisation de ce drame biographique. Un parfum de l'Hollywood des années de gloire.

FR : * * * *

Howard Hughes and the Spruce Goose

Di Caprio Flying High

Leonardo DiCaprio/The Aviator Interview by Paul Fischer in Los Angeles.

Leonardo Di Caprio apologised for appearing so tired. "It was the premiere last night", he says, with a sheepish grin, referring to the screening of The Aviator, in which the actor assumes the role of the young and complex Howard Hughes Wearing a black t-shirt, black casual jacket, with his hair slicked back, the perennially youthful 30-year old star, has remained intensely passionate about bringing Hughes' life to the screen for several years. "As an actor, you're constantly searching for that great character,"Di Caprio explains, when asked why the fascination for Hughes. "Also, being a history buff and learning about people in our past and amazing things that they've done, I came across a book about Howard Hughes and he was set up as basically, the most multi-dimensional character I could ever come across. Often, people have tried to define him in biographies, but no one seems to be able to categorize him.

He was one of the most complicated men of the last century and so I got this book, brought it to Michael Mann and John Logan came onboard and really came up with the concept, saying, 'you can do ten different movies about Howard Hughes. Let's focus on his younger years. Let's watch his initial descent into madness but meanwhile, have the backdrop of early Hollywood, these daring pioneers in the world of aviation that were like astronauts that went out and went out and risked their lives to further the cause of aviation. [He was] the first American billionaire who had all the resources in the world but was somehow unable to find any sense of peace of happiness'. It's that great see-saw act in the movie that goes on. On one side, he's having all the successes in the world and on the other side the tiny microbes and germs are the things that are taking him downwards."

Di Caprio says that while there are parallels between himself and Hughes, "I think he certainly took things farther than I could ever imagine," the actor insists. He was such an obsessed human being and remained so obsessive about everything he'd gotten involved with, whether it be planes, women or films, he made." While Di Caprio has remained as ferociously guarded about his private life ass Hughes was intensely shy, the actor says those two apparent parallels are miles apart from each other. "I have to say, that for the most part, I am a pretty private person while his came from a genuine mental disorder and I'm just fundamentally not like that. My reasons for being a private person are different from Mr. Hughes, in that because I'm an actor and want people to believe me in different roles and not necessarily know way too much about me. I want to be around in the business for a long time, while he had an intense fear of being around people and germs."

But is Hughes' celebrity that still offers a certain degree of parallel in the young life of Di Caprio, but while Hughes' female conquests remain fascinating as an almost historical legacy for Hughes, Di Caprio laughs when asked about his own place in history when he dates someone. "No, those aren't my intentions going into a relationship," and unlike Howard, Di Capriois not a collector of women. "I honestly feel that as much as he had love and adoration for these women and genuinely cared for them, he kind of looked at them like airplanes. He was a technical genius and obsessed with finding the new, faster, bigger airplane," he adds, laughingly, "and that was simultaneous with women. He was constantly finding the new hotter female to go out with, which all related back to him being orphaned at a very young age and having this empty hole in his soul, which I think he was always trying to fill with new, more exciting things in his life. He ended up, obviously, not a very happy person. I don't know if he was think about whether, historically, he was going to become a legend. I'm sure he had that sort of cat and mouse things going on in his mind where he wanted to be famous but it was more like 'look at me! Look at me! No, don't look at me'."

Dreams do not come true to all who have such lofty ambitions, and in an industry riddled with rejection, the actor says that his father was a great influences during his formative years. "I remember the casting session that I had where I was a break dancer, having this punk hair cut. They rejected me and I became really disillusioned with the business and said well this is what it's all about, and I haven't even got in to read a line.