From the quintessential lover boy in Titanic to the revenging frontiersman in The Revenant, Leonardo DiCaprio has played the gamut of roles that have showcased his vast talent. In Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, the star played one of his most vile characters, the southern slave owner Calvin Candie, and made the world despise him with his fantastic performance.
Apart from immersing himself into his roles, DiCaprio is also known to get involved wholly in the process of filming. The Aviator star gave Tarantino some valuable inputs on the now debunked science of phrenology, which played a big part in understanding the hateful nature of his character in the film.
Leonardo DiCaprio Made Quentin Tarantino Tweak The Script of Django Unchained
In a scene from Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, slave owner Calvin Candie played by Leonardo DiCaprio, cuts open a skull and elaborates on the science of phrenology to explain how the African race mentally differ from white people. This preposterous theory was then used by the character to justify slavery, owing to the ‘submissiveness’ in their brain.
While this science is now been officially considered wrong and inconsequential, it was DiCaprio who insisted that Tarantino incorporate elements of phrenology into the script to further accentuate the reprehensible nature of the character. The Pulp Fiction filmmaker lauded The Revenant star for his complete dedication and involvment to not just his role, but to the film as a whole. In an interview that appeared in YouTube (via Outstanding Screenplays), Tarantino said,
”I don’t think he ever thinks in terms of ‘I’m playing the good guy, Im playing the bad guy’. He couldnt help but realize that the guy was a repellent gargoyle. At the same time, he wanted to get a sense of who Calvin Candie is. How could this way of life actually exist in this time period?. It was actually his idea to bring in the whole phrenology aspect. He sent me a bunch of materials to read.”
DiCaprio’s research into his character’s mind and his brief to Tarantino to bring in elements of phrenology to flesh out the nuances, elevated that particular scene as well as the film.
Leonardo DiCaprio Ate Raw Liver In The Revenant
It is common knowledge that Leonardo DiCaprio has pushed his limits as an actor by giving his wholehearted commitment to any role he has played. For his Oscar-winning performance in The Revenant, the Titanic star went to great lengths to not just look the part physically, but to also make his character more organic and authentic on screen.
Apart from filming in extreme weather conditions, DiCaprio put his taste buds through a big challenge by eating raw liver for a scene. Speaking to Timeout about why he chose to do this instead of using fake liver, the actor explained his difficult decision and said,
“Because the fake liver they gave me didn’t look real. Arthur, the Native American actor I was working with, had been eating liver all day while I was sitting there eating a big piece of Play-Doh. I had to give it a shot.”
Although DiCaprio only tried the raw liver twice, the effort was worth it, as his disgust and repulsion which was as real as it could get, came through absolutely organically on screen.
