Superhero movies are often seen as simple, crowd-pleasing projects. Many sadly consider them lowbrow entertainment with a lot of spectacle and little substance. This is typically not true, of course, but such perception exists. There are certain superhero movies, however, that transcend the genre, and become cinematic masterpieces in the eyes of even those who look down on comic book projects.
Some of them include Black Panther, Logan, Joker and, of course, The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan's sequel did a lot of work in changing the idea of what a superhero movie could be. The film was praised by superhero fans and cinema lovers alike, and as we just learned, there's one prestige actor who also loves the film: Leonardo DiCaprio. The actor sat down with Collider alongside Benicio del Toro to promote his latest film, One Battle After Another.
In the interview, the actors were asked their favorite movies from different filmmakers. For Steven Spielberg, DiCaprio picked Jaws, while Del Toro picked E.T. Then came Christopher Nolan, whom DiCaprio starred in 2010's Inception for. The Titanic star quickly picked The Dark Knight, which Del Toro agreed with.
It's surprising to hear DiCaprio dubbing a superhero film as his favorite one out of a filmography like Christopher Nolan's, given the actor's previous advice to Timothée Chalamet. In a interview with The New York Times (via Variety), Chalamet revealed that DiCaprio advised him against doing superhero movies:
"Well, Leonardo DiCaprio said to me, 'No superhero movies, no hard drugs.' Which I thought was very good. I follow them both! But the movie that made me want to act is a superhero movie, The Dark Knight. If the script was great, if the director was great, I'd have to consider it."
Still, despite his apparent aversion to superhero projects, the actor has, in fact, nearly been involved in some high-profile comic book projects. In the '90s, for example, James Cameron was slated to direct a Spider-Man movie, and his top choice to play Peter Parker was Leonardo DiCaprio. The actor actually talked about how close he got to starring in the scrapped film in 2015, during an interview with Empire Magazine (via Screen Rant):
"Not very close, but there was a screenplay. I know he was semi-serious about doing it at some point, but I don't remember any further talks about it. We had a couple of chats. I think there was a screenplay that I read, but I don't remember. This was 20 years ago!"
Then, for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder revealed that, prior to Jesse Eisenberg being cast as Lex Luthor, he had a meeting with the Inception star to talk about the role. As Snyder revealed during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast: "Leonardo DiCaprio, I talked to about [Lex Luthor].
When asked if the actor was intrigued by the role, Snyder replied: "Eh, I think so. I think DiCaprio... he had a lot of great ideas, actually, just in the meeting. I think in the end, he was like, 'Eh, you know, I don't know,' but he was really smart about the material, and really smart about the character. And then, really, in a lot of ways, I think... I think he was the one that mentioned to me this idea about Superman fighting the Justice League at some point, and I was like, 'Oh, that's cool.'
Host Josh Horowitz then went on to reveal DiCaprio is, in fact, a comic book fan.
Funnily enough, executives were also interested in DiCaprio for a role in the third installment of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. As Batman Begins co-writer David S. Goyer revealed during a conversation on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:
"After The Dark Knight, the head of Warner Bros. at the premiere said, 'You got to do the Riddler. Leo [DiCaprio] is the Riddler. You know, saying to me, 'You got to tell [Christopher Nolan], Leo is the Riddler.' And I just [said], 'Dude, that’s not the way we work."
So, yes, it might seem like DiCaprio is not much a fan of superheroes, but he may actually be a geek like the rest of us (in the best of ways, of course).
What do you think about DiCaprio's favorite Christopher Nolan movie being The Dark Knight? What's your favorite Nolan film?