INTERVIEW: Leonardo DiCaprio

Film critic Tony Earnshaw meets Leonardo DiCaprio and explores the dreamscape of the subconsious in director Christopher Nolan's latest hi-tech thriller Inception.

IT is a fundamental pre-requisite of an actor's raison d'tre that he or she must be something of a dreamer to be able to earn a living portraying other people, particularly when they're creating a character from scratch.

So it's a tad surprising to hear Leonardo DiCaprio, screen heartthrob, box office gold mine and Martin Scorsese's current muse, make a casual admission.

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"I am not a big dreamer," he announces at the London launch of his audacious new flick Inception, in which a gang of hustlers makes a descent into the maelstrom of the unconscious mind.

"For me, from an actor's perspective, I get to flush out a lot of demons through my filmmaking experiences. I've gotten to play some pretty intense characters lately. I actually think it's therapeutic in a way.

"It's amazing to completely focus on something for four, five or six months at a time. You're constantly thinking about somebody else's set of circumstances and how they would emotionally react to something. I find it fascinating."

DiCaprio is in town to promote Inception, the latest hi-tech thriller from Christopher Nolan, the man who gave us Memento, the US remake of Insomnia and who resurrected the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

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It's a dark, vivid glimpse into a netherworld of the unconscious, the subconscious and the sub-subconscious as Nolan takes his cast – including Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page and Cillian Murphy alongside ostensible lead DiCaprio – on a journey into the dark corners of the psyche.

The 35-year-old Californian reveals it took "a couple of readings" to fully absorb the concept of a man who lives his life in two worlds: reality and a dreamlike state. Eventually, says DiCaprio, the intense one-on-one sessions with Nolan paid off.

"This has been a concept that has been locked in his mind for eight years now," he says.

"He had this extreme and ambitious concept of doing a highly entertaining Hollywood film that is existential and cerebral and surreal and delves into various seats of the subconscious.

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"The way that he wanted to put that up on screen involved us really talking with him at great length to truly understand his concepts. I felt like my interaction with Chris really gave me a grasp of what he was trying to achieve."

In short, DiCaprio was just as confused as everyone else. Eventually, the character of Dom Cobb began to take shape in his mind. It was, he says, a magnificent moment of clarity.

Referencing Fellini, he describes Inception as "almost like the 8 of the dream world", adding "it's the construction and dissolving of a dream and the infiltration of it and all the mechanics that go along

with it."

He elaborates: "I tried to take a very traditional approach to researching this film. I read The Analysis of Dreams to pick apart the psychology of what things represent in the dream world. I quickly realised that this was a whole new type of preparation.

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"It's reassuring as an actor to know you're dealing with somebody who has a

great track record of accomplishing stuff like this."

In joining the ensemble at the heart of Inception, DiCaprio mixed with Watanabe and Murphy, a pair of actors who had worked with Nolan previously on the Batman movies.

Given his on-going partnership with Scorsese – their most recent collaboration was on Shutter Island – DiCaprio understands the concept of creating an unofficial repertory company.

What's more, he found time to discuss with Nolan the similarities in style of Scorsese's paranoid chiller and Inception.

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"There's definitely something I was aware of thematically but the execution couldn't have been more far apart as far as how both the films were laid out," he confides.

"There was such a unique through line with this character in the sense that he's almost like an addict – he's addicted to an alternative reality and he keeps escaping into that reality to deal with his past trauma."

DiCaprio may not be much of a real-life dreamer but he's as affected by nightmares as anyone else. Pressed to name his creepiest movie moment he opts for a classic Kubrick scene.

"The twins in The Shining, influenced by the Diane Arbus photograph.

"That scared the living daylights outta me! I think that's one of the most powerful images in films as far as terrifying is concerned."

Inception (15) is on saturation release nationwide.