DiCaprio Opens Up About His “Biggest Regret”
In an interview published in Esquire, Leonardo DiCaprio, 50, sat down with director Paul Thomas Anderson to reflect on a pivotal moment in his career. Asked about missed opportunities, DiCaprio admitted openly:
“I’ll say it even though you’re here: My biggest regret is not doing ‘Boogie Nights.’”
He acknowledged the irony of sharing his regret directly with Anderson, the filmmaker behind the 1997 classic.
The Road Not Taken: Boogie Nights or Titanic?
When pressed on whether he would make a different decision if given the chance, DiCaprio didn’t commit:
“I’m not saying I would have,”
But he noted it would have changed the shape of his career:
“But it would have been a different direction, careerwise. I think they’re both great and wish I could have done them both.”
“I would have been happy to do them both. And the truth is, if I’d not done ‘Titanic,’ I wouldn’t be able to do the types of movies or have the career I have now, for sure. But it would have been interesting to see if I had gone the other way.”
DiCaprio’s recognition of the consequences of that choice highlights how one decision can define a career, even for a star of his magnitude.
Looking Back at His Films
The conversation went beyond regrets. DiCaprio, who has starred in Anderson’s recent action thriller, One Battle After Another, shared a personal detail: he rarely watches his own movies. Still, there’s one film he returns to most often:
“The Aviator.”
DiCaprio recounted his long-standing interest in Howard Hughes, the role he played in the film:
“I had worked with Marty [Scorsese] on ‘Gangs of New York,’ and I’d been toting around a book on Howard Hughes for ten years. I almost did it with Michael Mann, but there was a conflict and I ended up bringing it to Marty.”
The significance of The Aviator went beyond the script. DiCaprio described it as a turning point in his sense of ownership and partnership in filmmaking:
“I was thirty. It was the first time as an actor I got to feel implicitly part of the production, rather than just an actor hired to play a role.”
“I felt responsible in a whole new way. I’ve always felt proud and connected to that film as such a key part of my growing up in this industry and taking on a role of a real collaborator for the first time.”
Finding Balance Away from the Camera
Discussing his approach to work-life balance, DiCaprio acknowledged the demands of his career:
“I do things more sparingly, which means you’re anxious to get back to your real life once you’ve finished filming,”
“Life goes on hold when you’re filming. Everything stops and gets put on the back burner in your real life. I might be more concerned if I worked too much.”
Even for one of the industry's top actors, time away from the spotlight remains essential—and the ordinary rhythms of life are something to return to and enjoy.
