Leonardo DiCaprio

[Binky]

Blood Diamond comes out Dec 15th. I think they'll have enough time to gauge which one they should push him for. His co-star, Matt Damon, has a similar dilemma with The Good Shepherd.

I'm voting for The Departed, because in the trailer for Blood Diamond, Leo has a wonky accent.

[Shanmac]

I didn't think the accent sounds that bad Admittedly, I'm no expert on South African accents, but I knew what it was right away, because my cousin's wife's brother's kids (did you get that? )grew up there and sound pretty similar to that. The Boy, on the other hand, immediately asked me, "What the hell is that supposed to be?" as soon as the trailer started up. Other people in the theater actually laughed at it. D'oh! Poor Leo.

But, I saw The Departed yesterday, and I think I'm finally back on the love train.

Me too. I used to love him, but for years, I thought he was, well, unfortunate looking (he seems perpetually adolescent -- I always have a hard time believing him in "adult" roles), and then he started annoying me. But his performance in "The Departed" blew me away, and I thought he looked cute. Although he looked like he wore his own clothes for the role, and I think he dresses like a dirtbag most of the time, so that wasn't good. Leo, enough with the white t-shirts and jeans. You're not Danny Zuko. And I'm going to buy him a damn iron, because everything he wears looks wrinkled.

I can't hold his skinny, boyish physique against him. I read an interview once where he said he hated his body (aw, that's kind of sad), and I'm sure he can't help it. The Boy is painfully thin, no matter what he does to try to bulk up. So I feel his pain.

[Deleted]

Accent needs some work. I'm living in SA so I hear it everyday. It's good, but not quite right. I think it's a really hard accent to nail though.

He looks good in this. Almost grown up. I think DiCaprio is one of those lucky SOB's that's going to look his best in his 40's.

[Binky]

South African is also a really hard accent for Americans to identify. I had a SA lab partner in college, and I knew it wasn't British or Aussie, but damned if I could figure out what it was 'til he told me. So maybe it won't be that distracting. But it did sound wonky in the trailer. There's nothing wrong with an American accent.

[groovethang]

I was never a Leonardo DiCaprio fan; I'm older than him so missed all that Titantic, swoony stuff. But, I saw him last week in The Departed and found myself with a mad crush on him.

ETA: Cleaning up some typos

[bauersbiatch]

South African is also a really hard accent for Americans to identify.

That's true. We're constantly exposed to English, Irish, Australian, and Scottish accents in the US media, but we rarely hear a SA accent. Maybe it's a hold-over of Apartheid-Era relations. Literally the only movies I can really think of are Lethal Weapon (where the SAs were the bad guys) and Munich, and I for one am incapable of telling whether Daniel Craig's SA accent was any good.

That said, Leo's accent rang false to me when I saw the preview.

I must say, I think SA accent are very interesting.

[Atreides]

I can't hold his skinny, boyish physique against him. I read an interview once where he said he hated his body (aw, that's kind of sad), and I'm sure he can't help it. The Boy is painfully thin, no matter what he does to try to bulk up. So I feel his pain.

Yeah, me too. Some people are just genetically incapable of developing McConaughey-esque pecs and biceps and whatnot. I'm no expert but doesn't Leo have a male runway model's build? Tall and lean (except for the giant face) so he should be able to wear designer clothes very well. Too bad he's strictly T-shirts and jeans when he's not promoting anything.

[Deleted]

There's nothing wrong with an American accent.

Tell that to the South Africans! They make fun of our accent mercilessly -- they think it's very nasal. I even had a woman tell a joke where she held her nostrils shut to imitate an American accent.

But that's not really about the movie or Leo. I can't tell if I'll like this or not. I think I'd like to see it, but I can't tell from the trailer if it's more about the concept of blood diamonds in general or if they are trying to say that the particular diamond at issue is incredibly valuable. Either way, the trailer kind of bugs with its "men would kill for it." Blood diamonds were/are really a currency. It already seems far fetched to place particular value on one.

[ladyboy]

I think DiCaprio is one of those lucky SOB's that's going to look his best in his 40's.

I totally think so too. It's like he's been stuck in adolescent-ville for years, and then all of a sudden he's going to grow into a MAN and look smoking. I hope so, because otherwise all that promise of hotness will be wasted!

[Shanmac]

they think it's very nasal.

Oh, they're totally right. Seriously, that's the first thing I notice when I spend time overseas and then come home to America -- "Jesus, everyone talks through their noses!" Most of the time, though, our accents don't sound like that to me.

I was watching some deleted scenes from "Titanic" that someone in another thread linked to, and I've got to hand it to Leo and Kate. I haven't seen that since it first came out, and I can't believe how shitty the dialogue is. James Cameron -- wtf were you thinking? But Leo and Kate managed to pull it off. I would have died of shame if I had to utter their cloying, ridiculous lines.

I think "Blood Diamond" looks promising -- and it has Djimon! *Swoon* I'll see it for sure. It's an interesting role for LD, too, and I agree, it seems like it would be hard to pull off an SA accent.