Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has a sprawling acting career replete with many critically acclaimed films, many of which have earned him accolades and even an Academy Award. But the noted star has revealed that he has no plans to become a filmmaker. He cited his admiration for legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese as the reason for the same, noting that he could never match the veteran director's cinematic brilliance.
He shared the remarks during a conversation with Scorsese at the A Year in TIME event held in New York City, saying, "Some people have asked me if I wanted to direct. I'm like, 'I would never want to direct. I could never do anything close to what Martin Scorsese does. Why would I do that?"
He further recalled his journey as an actor and expressed his regret on not taking a step back to observe the filmmaking process more closely.
"You play these characters, you try to get into the depths of their soul as much as you possibly can. And I would've loved to be much more of a voyeur ... to watch what you (Scorsese) do behind the camera," he said.
"If I look back on anything, I would've loved to have observed that process behind the camera a lot more,' he added, according to People.
It is to be noted that the actor and filmmaker have collaborated on six films and one short film together since 2002, exploring a variety of genres, including historical epic, crime, thriller, biopic, comedy, and western.
Sharing their process of work, he said, "That's been our process a lot, I think, working together ... the ability to almost have a debate for months before and lots of questions, and lots of playing devil's advocate about a way to approach things that may not be the most obvious direction," he said, calling his association with Scorsese one of the proudest achievements of his life.
He reminisced his young age of wanting to watch films and growing up with a steady diet of Martin Scorsese movies. "My father brought me to see Marty's work, along with Mr Robert De Niro's, and said, 'If there's anyone you want to strive to work with in your career, now that you have the capability of doing movies, it's with this gentleman.' So I got to see Marty's work very, very early on," as quoted by People.
Their seventh collaboration, What Happens at Night, is currently in production, with DiCaprio set to star alongside Jennifer Lawrence in the film adaptation of Peter Cameron's novel.
