Читать книгу Leonardo DiCaprio - The Biography - Douglas Wight - Страница 9

Leonardo’s first foray into showbiz had ended in disaster when he was kicked off Romper Room but for a while it looked as if that early experience might be a high-water mark in the television career of the young wannabe. After his bold pronouncement that he wanted to be an actor, 11-year-old Leo set about finding the right agent but this proved more difficult than he imagined.

His description of that first meeting with an agent is particularly painful: ‘I remember them lining us up like cattle. There were eight boys. A woman comes up and says, “OK, no, no, yes, yes, no, no, no, yes. Thank you.”’

The young Leonardo was a ‘no’ and the ordeal left him distraught – ‘I thought that that was my one chance into the business and that the community was now against me.’

For the next three years he tried again to find adequate representation – with the same level of success. Leonardo couldn’t understand it. By that age he’d earned himself a reputation among his school friends for being a bit of a performer. His impression of serial killer Charles Manson was a particular hit, although he ended up in a heap of trouble after he painted a swastika onto his forehead for one such pastiche of the crazed hippie, whose insane gang butchered actress Sharon Tate and other innocents in a mock protest.

In elementary school, he earned respect from classmates with a killer Michael Jackson impression. ‘The next thing I was like the most popular kid in school,’ he recalls. ‘The coolest kid there walked up and gave me a Street Beats tape and goes, “Hey, this is for you.”’

It was only a temporary reprieve, however. By the end of term, after an argument over the most beautiful girl in school, the cool kids threw Leo in a garbage can. In a bid to act tough, he began stealing gum from his local convenience store but stopped because he ‘believed in karma.’

One of the few teachers who spotted his talent for performing was Helen Stringos-Arias, who was so impressed by the precocious 13-year-old that she put him forward for a state drama scholarship.

‘Leo always wanted to be an actor,’ she said. ‘On school trips, he would get up at the front of the bus and entertain us with impersonations of his classmates and teachers. But I never saw him growing up into a sex symbol – he would come to school with his hair unbrushed, in jeans and a sweatshirt.’

During this time he also came close to winning a break-dancing competition in Germany but dancing was never going to take precedence over his dream. His body popping did earn him his nickname ‘The Noodle’, however, thanks to the moves he pulled and that has stuck to this day.

It’s hard to imagine now but when Leo was 14, he was short and scrawny. And, although he acted tough, he was prone to being picked on by bigger kids. His most humiliating moment of school life, he revealed, was when he got badly roughed up for refusing to return a thug kid’s basketball. ‘I woke up about ten minutes later,’ he recalled. ‘I had about 30 kids all around me, throwing spitballs and kicking me. I tried to run away but they’d tied my shoelaces together, so I took one step and fell flat on my face. I had to hop away while they were still kicking me.’

During this time, the young Leo didn’t have much luck with girls either. His first crush was in the eighth grade on a girl called Cecilia Garcia, or ‘Cessi’, as Leo remembers her. He recounts a poignant tale of unrequited love.

‘I went out with this girl named Cessi, this beautiful little Spanish girl. We had this beautiful relationship over the phone all summer – she was away. We were so close, so bonded, we’d tell each other everything. Then she came home, and we went out to the movies for the first time, and – oh, God! – I wanted it to be so perfect. So I put on my light blue turtleneck, which I thought was cool at the time (it was a turtleneck I bought from Kmart or something).

‘When I saw Cessi I was petrified and I couldn’t even look her in the eye or speak to her. We saw When Harry Met Sally… and I couldn’t move, I couldn’t look at her or anything. But the movie took me away. For two hours I was at peace because she was watching the movie and I didn’t have this responsibility on me to be Superboy. And then afterward, I remember eating French dip sandwiches. She was really shy. Finally she said, “Do you have a problem with me eating this sandwich?” I said, “No, no, not at all.” But I was really acting weird. And that was our last date. I was in love with her for a year after that, but I couldn’t go near her because I was so mortified.’

When he eventually got round to experiencing his first kiss with a girl, it was an equally excruciating moment. Describing it as the ‘the most disgusting thing in my life’, he said: ‘The girl injected about a pound of saliva into my mouth – I had to walk off and spit it out.’

Leo’s yearbook shows why the girls might have rejected him. Long before the dazzling blue eyes and angelic blond hair captivated females the world over, he was an awkward-looking, young-for-his-age teenager. Fittingly, perhaps, his fellow classmates voted him ‘most bizarre male freshman’.

One classmate recalled: ‘He wasn’t the type to sweep anyone off their feet. He was a skinny kid and quite wild and funny. Cecilia was very mature for her age – while Leo was playing basketball and joking around, she was interested in politics. No one could have known that Leonardo was going to become one of the most lusted-after men in the world.’

However, Leo certainly lived up to his jokey image in his second year in high school. Then 15, he is pictured in his yearbook wearing a wig with the caption: ‘Elvis Does Live!’

His luck with the opposite sex continued when he reportedly fell for a neighbour’s dark-haired daughter called Heidi. She grew up to be the notorious Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss, jailed for fixing vice girls for the stars.

Former friend Mark la Femina told the News of the World: ‘Leo used to see her in the street when they were kids. She was at least five years older than him but he couldn’t get her out of his mind.’

Whenever Leo was asked in school what he wanted to be, he felt foolish mentioning an acting career that hadn’t quite taken off.

‘At school, when they asked what I wanted as a career I tried to choose between a travel agent and a biologist,’ he says. ‘I knew I didn’t want to be one of the set things they said I should be at school – doctor, lawyer, blah blah blah…’

And he was convinced he was a better prospect than many of the other kids who cluttered up his television screen – including big brother Adam.

‘I was always play-acting at home and in school. I used to watch TV commercials all the time and honestly believed that I was better than any of those kids, including my brother.’

Eventually it was Adam who offered to help put him in touch with an agent. Initially, the move looked promising. Leo landed a role in a Matchbox advert and further parts in a breakfast cereal campaign and one for bubblegum, which was ironic given his previous ‘life of crime’.

The role might not have won him any awards but on a local level, he attained a level of fame from it. ‘When I started getting into commercials everyone started saying, “Hey, you’re the ‘keeps it poppin’ kid!” People recognise you from stuff like that. That’s probably my most famous commercial.’

However, the commercials were a false dawn. After this meagre success it was back to the customary rejections, some for spurious reasons. One producer refused him because he had the ‘wrong haircut’. His agent had a brainwave. What was hindering Leo’s shot at stardom was his name – he felt it was too ethnic. Instead he should try using the more universal ‘Lenny Williams’.

Leonardo was horrified. Aside from the usual teasing he received in school, he loved and was proud of his name. Years later, he recalled: ‘They thought my name was a little too ethnic. They dissected it and said, “Leonardo – Lenny”. Wilhelm, they changed to Williams. I didn’t want to act under that.’

In fact, the only name he changed was his agent’s – he sacked him and began the search for someone more on his wavelength. However, that depressing episode plus the mounting rejections were beginning to take their toll on the impressionable young teenager.

‘I hadn’t gotten a job in a year and a half,’ he explained. ‘That’s like over a hundred auditions. You get pretty disillusioned. One day I just decided I hated everyone. I hated all these casting directors, I hated them all – I was ready to quit.’

He recalls returning home dejected after yet another knockback and complaining to his father: ‘Dad, I really want to become an actor but if this is what it’s all about, I don’t want to do it.’

George replied: ‘Someday, Leonardo, it will happen for you. Remember these words – just relax.’

Simple words of wisdom they might have been, but they had the desired effect: Leonardo duly calmed down, refocused and carried on with renewed impetus. In addition, if he ever needed a reminder of why he was striving to make a better life for himself and his mother, it was there on a daily basis.

‘Money was always on my mind,’ he admits. ‘If I am honest, it was what inspired me most to come into acting. I was aware that a lot of people in Los Angeles were earning great money. I was always wondering from where, and how we were going to afford this and that – acting seemed to be a shortcut to getting out of the mess.’

Adam gave his take on early life with Leo and their unconventional family set-up: ‘We grew up together as brothers in the same homes, we were a very close-knit family. All the parents lived close to each other and were friendly. We’ve known each other since I was four and Leo was one: we are as close as two brothers could be.

‘Leo wanted to get into showbiz after he saw me in a TV ad and found out what I got paid for it. He decided that was what he wanted to do.’

Then came the little breaks. A friend of Irmelin’s knew a talent agent and offered to put in a good word. Within weeks, Leonardo was signed up. In the following months he landed parts in about 20 commercials. Those small roles led to work starring in information films. One, for the Disney-produced Mickey’s Safety Club, was on road safety. Another, on the dangers of drugs, entitled ‘How to Deal With A Parent Who Takes Drugs’, saw the 15-year-old Leonardo pose with a crack vial that transformed into a shotgun. This was also somewhat ironic given the substances that had been passed around in George’s circle of friends since Leonardo was a youngster. After all, this was the kid who once told friends smoking cannabis looked ‘as normal as drinking beer.’ Leo was quoted in The Times in 1998 saying ‘With parents like mine, I didn’t need to rebel against anything’, and his mother Irmelin backed this up in comments in the Mail on Sunday, saying: ‘We already did the craziness for him.’

Suddenly, Leonardo’s attitude to acting changed. Rather than being disillusioned by the profession, he was remarking: ‘I’m getting paid for something I enjoy doing, and I get to miss two days of school.’

Gradually, in small baby steps, he was beginning to get noticed. The information films were one thing, but what Leonardo craved was something tangible. And he got it in the shape of Lassie. Luckily for Leo, the exploits of the clever canine were being revived for a 1980s audience. The New Lassie started filming in 1989 and it was just the vehicle to get him on television. He appeared infrequently but crucially more than once, as a pal of the dog’s owner, Will Estes. His introduction to the series was a two-parter. ‘Lassie was having puppies before the big BMX bike race and I was the sort of cocky kid who just wanted to win,’ he recalls.

While the experience was a positive one, it opened the eyes of the impressionable young idealist to the fakeries of TV. As he told David Letterman, years later after hitting the big time: ‘Lassie was supposed to be a female dog but they had five different guys who were supposed to do all the tricks – maybe male dogs are smarter or something like that. They had this big pregnancy scene and I first realised how fake this business is because they had to tape over Lassie’s bits with special fur. I was little shocked and I was a little disappointed – I thought they’d use the real thing.’

At the same time he auditioned for a part in The Outsiders, a television version of the seminal 1983 movie of the same name which had been directed by Francis Ford Coppola and made stars of Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio and C. Thomas Howell. Following the success of the movie, which launched the notion of the new ‘Brat Pack’, a series was devised with Coppola installed as executive producer. However, it was short-lived and Leonardo’s role even shorter (he appeared fleetingly as ‘Young Boy’ in one episode) but it marked a continual development.

That progression furthered with a meatier role on daytime soap opera Santa Barbara, where he had the more challenging role of playing a teenage alcoholic called Mason Capwell in five episodes. The journey from the odd bit part to the well-oiled production line of a successful soap proved a wake-up call for the young actor. As Leonardo was still only 15, he was permitted on set for half days at a time but these appearances were demanding and he was required to learn the entire script for his episodes. By this time his soon-to-be-trademark blond quiff was evident and he could throw a look suggesting there was more to come from this confident young actor. Of all his early appearances, this was the one that proved most beneficial. His part was emotionally challenging and demanding for an actor who had never once had a drama class in his life. Leonardo came through with flying colours, though and looked to the next opportunity with relish.

He didn’t have long to wait. A one-off appearance on top-rated sitcom Roseanne was merely a stopgap until he was cast in another TV spin-off from a hit movie, Parenthood. Ron Howard’s 1989 film, starring Steve Martin and Dianne Wiest, had been an unexpected hit and NBC hoped to replicate that success with a TV series based on the same characters. This time Ed Begley Jr. took on the lead role of Gil Buckman but the ensemble cast deserved more than the reception they received. Leonardo appeared in all 12 one-hour episodes as Garry Buckman – again, essentially a troubled teenager (and a part played by Joaquin Phoenix in the original movie). It was said he had analysed Phoenix’s performance as if studying Olivier to play Richard III, but the dedication paid off and he landed the part. However, by December 1990, the series was off the air. Just as he had been settling into some full-time work, Leonardo was once more looking for a regular gig.

He wasn’t out of work for long, however, and his next significant break came in the shape of another TV series. Growing Pains was a homely sitcom that had been running since 1985 about an affluent family in Long Island, New York. One of the stars of the show had been Kirk Cameron, who played the family’s troublemaking teenage son, Mike Seaver. Come 1992, the producers felt Kirk was getting on a bit to still be pulling in the younger female viewers and so the search was launched to find a new heartthrob.

The character of Mike became a teacher in a health centre and befriended a teenage homeless boy, who would eventually move in with the family. The producers hoped the storyline would highlight the plight of America’s homeless, while at the same time re-energising a dying product.

‘That was when I was sent on, to rekindle the girls’ lust for a young man,’ Leonardo said.

His character Luke Brower first appeared as a guest addition and then became a regular member of the Seaver family throughout the show’s seventh series.

Sam Anderson, who played Principal Willis Dewitt, said of Leo’s arrival: ‘What a cute kid and what a heart-tugger! He was a real interesting addition to that group because he was different to what we were used to.’

Leonardo’s appearance failed to re-ignite the interest in the show that the producers were craving but interestingly, it did serve to get him noticed with young fans. For the first time he began receiving attention from teenage girls, who instantly recognised him from the series.

‘I get teenyboppers following me around, like, “Hi, hi, hi, what’s your name? You’re from Growing Pains, aren’t you?” I like that, you know. It’s pretty fun to have people recognise you,’ he said.

Irmelin, who was by now handling her son’s publicity, recognised a phenomenon that could be exploited and she set about arranging interviews for Leo with some of the most popular teen girl magazines. The upshot was while the show foundered, Leo’s stock was rising.

When the series was eventually canned, Leonardo spoke out with an honesty not often found in young actors still finding their feet. ‘The new writing was awful,’ he remarked candidly. ‘Either that, or I’m not sexy at all. Either one – you tell me.’

He went on: ‘I had these lame lines – I couldn’t bear it, actually. Everyone was bright and chipper.’

Leo might have been frustrated by the lack of genuine opportunities to test himself and feared being pigeon-holed as a bit-part player in tired TV series but he was at least beginning to forge a reputation as a teenager adept at grittier characters. Parenthood and Growing Pains might not have been cutting-edge drama but within these saccharine settings he emerged as a credible addition to the casts.

By then, though he had definitely caught the acting bug: ‘I was lucky enough to get some auditions and commercials when I was 14 and 15, and then a part in a television show at 16, which turned me on to the whole process. I was hooked – not on the prospect of money anymore, though that was great, but on the simple process of acting itself. Something happened. I found I could think myself into the parts and it gave me the biggest thrill.’

By this time his stepbrother Adam had enjoyed limited success and followed up his success in TV ads with a couple of films – Looker and The Incredible Shrinking Woman with Lily Tomlin. However, unlike Leonardo and despite the ready cash provided, Adam found he could take or leave the acting game.

He says: ‘I had a deal with my mum that at anytime I wanted to, I could stop. In the end I decided I just wanted to be a kid and play with my friends, and my mum was cool about it. She never pushed me into anything and I just wanted to be a normal kid.’

Being a ‘normal kid’ was the last thing that Leo wanted, though. He wanted to play, too, but his game was movies. And at the same time as he secured the slot on Growing Pains, he also landed what was to be his movie debut. However, his dreams of a big screen break would have to be put on hold because Critters 3, the flick that would provide him with his first full-length feature, bypassed the cinemas and went straight to video.

The reaction of most people on learning Leonardo DiCaprio’s first-ever movie was Critters 3 is astonishment that there was even a Critters 2. The original was a shameless attempt to cash in on the success of the far superior Gremlins (1984) and even a sequel felt like a film too many. By the time the third instalment came along, the plot had changed dramatically from a small town attempting to repel the alien invaders to a large city battling with the same problems. Leonardo fans might also have been surprised to learn their favourite actor was in it because he, rather understandably, prefers to leave it off his resume.

The no-budget science-fiction movie was made in a warehouse and Leo played the stepson of an evil landlord, a role he describes as ‘your average, no-depth, standard kid with blond hair.’ That was him being kind. When pushed, he was equally glowing about the experience as he was about Growing Pains: ‘It was possibly one of the worst films of all time. I guess it was a good example to look back on and make sure it doesn’t happen again.’

He might be harsh but it is interesting to note that the part of Josh, so expertly nailed by Leonardo, was initially turned down by British actor Cary Elwes, who rejected it, evidently, for a bit part in Hot Shots! Elwes had starred in The Princess Bride and Robin Hood: Men in Tights but further leading roles would elude him. That’s not to say but for Critters, Elwes might have enjoyed the same stellar success as DiCaprio but the difference in their attitudes meant that Leonardo wasn’t willing to let any opportunities pass him by at this time.

It was with this same philosophy in mind that he secured his next movie role. He made a fleeting appearance in the thriller Poison Ivy (1992), the vehicle that it was hoped would signal ET star Drew Barrymore’s teenage comeback and arrival as a serious actress. Leo only pops up in the opening sequence as Barrymore’s eponymous wild child character ruthlessly dispenses with an injured dog.

These experiences gave Leonardo a taste for moviemaking that he would never shake off. And although he was amused by the reputation he was cultivating as a heartthrob, this wasn’t something he was planning to rely on in the long-term.

‘Even early on, around the time I left Growing Pains, I said to myself I was going to do my own thing and not be hunk of the month,’ he said. And as he looked towards his next project, he hoped this would be the break into serious acting he so desperately craved.