James on DiCaprio
“In a film with a wealth of strong actors — including Jack Nicholson as the crime boss and Matt Damon as a policeman in his pocket — there is scarcely a weak link (well, a couple of over-the-top Nicholson moments). But no one is better in The Departed than Leonardo DiCaprio,” writes N.Y. Times columnist Caryn James in Sunday’s edition. “His role is central, and the film would collapse without him.
“His character, Billy Costigan, is a smart guy who has to infiltrate a crime ring and act a little less smart in his undercover guise. He erupts in sudden violence, and his cropped hair minimizes DiCaprio’s movie-star glamour. But the performance goes deeper than those external clues. He shows in his eyes the undercover agent’s fear and revulsion, a fear he has to reveal to the camera yet conceal from the mobsters in the room. We see the difference between that fear and the confusion he sometimes displays in his role as the mob’s newest member, full of braggadocio. And we see how he is torn by stress almost, but not quite, to the breaking point.
DiCaprio has “mastered an art that looks simple on screen but is immensely sophisticated: he is often best when playing devious characters who are themselves playing roles, letting us see the layers behind the facade of the con man or the undercover cop. The Departed is his most substantial take on that kind of slippery character.”
I certainly agree with Ms James comments about Leo’s Billy Costigan
“But no one is better in The Departed than Leonardo DiCaprio,” writes N.Y. Times columnist Caryn James in Sunday’s edition. “His role is central, and the film would collapse without him.”
Leo may be the central character, but I thought he was out-acted by Nicholson, Damon, Wahlberg and Baldwin. Of course, it often happens that the central character is less interesting than the flamboyant ones that surround him. (For instance, Ray Liotta in Goodfellas.)
I guess I’m in the minority, in that I thought Leo was the weak link in “Departed.” Why do people think this performance is great? Did anyone REALLY buy him as a tormented tough guy? I didn’t in “Gangs of NY” and I didn’t in “Departed.” He’s a gifted actor, but he can’t do everything.
ernie, I did. i still think it’s a fantastic performance. he certainly had more to do than damon.
A tangent: did Clooney actually push to be nominated for best actor in Good Night and Good Luck? I thought his roles in that and Syriana were both supporting, and he just went with the one that was more showy for the Academy…
ernie, make that a minority of two. James’ point that he’s the central character and the movie would collapse without him is a strange one. Of course it would collapse, but that’s to do with the structure, not Di Caprio’s acting. I agree with Larry, a bland actor is not necessarily bad in a central role like this one. I don’t agree Liotta was uninteresting though.
I thought both Di Caprio & Damon were weak links. They reminded me of Wells’ comments about Glenn Ford. Competent, professional actors, but bland & uninteresting. And in Leo’s case, much too self-conscious. Unfortunately for both actors, in a Scorsese film you’ve always got the ghosts of De Niro & Keitel, etc., to contend with. I found Wahlberg & Baldwin the best, Baldwin the best he’s been in a long time. Nicholson unwatchable.
The Times seems to be alternating fangirl pieces like this one with hatchet jobs (i.e.: Aniston, Orlando Bloom) by either James or Waxman. I was a little surprised to see Wells’ piece about Di Caprio. It’s interesting that these raves about Leo are starting to show up now, and not three weeks ago, when the film opened. They seem more like a campaign or some kind of tribute than a spontaneous reaction. If that’s what it is, a feeling that he’s worked hard a long time and finally deserves something, it’s peaking much too early. And why do it to the guy this year when O’Toole’s kind of a lock?
ernie, I did. i still think it’s a fantastic performance. he certainly had more to do than damon.
A tangent: did Clooney actually push to be nominated for best actor in Good Night and Good Luck? I thought his roles in that and Syriana were both supporting, and he just went with the one that was more showy for the Academy…
I thought Leo got outshined by everyone. He didn’t pull off the buildup of the stress that well and Damon’s character was a good example of how it should have been done.
I remember thinking “Where did that come from?” when DiCaprio just went straight from rookie cadet into stressed out snitch on his meeting with the psychiatrist . Costigan always seemed on edge during the assignment and stood out from the rest of the gang from the get go. Eyes shifting back and forth and a chip on the shoulder to look tough that appeared too forced. Don’t understand how he ever got acceted in the gang in the first place.
Damon’s character on the other hand actually had some movement. He looked like he could be one of those rising stars you see in a professional setting. Smooth and collected at first and then over time it appeared the dual life and circumstances started to break him down more and more.
Maybe that was a Scorsese’s choice, but I think it would have been a better story if DiCaprio actually spiraled into a wreck instead of starting out as one.
Guess you minority guys weren’t watching the same movie. I’ll give Damon that he also did a great job with a difficult part since Colin is always hiding his true character and is a complete phony, but his life is never endangered to the extent that Billy’s is until the end. Billy has to be a phony, too, but his life is at stake from the get-go. He starts out as a bit of a wreck because he’s stressed from the moment he enters the world of Costello, even before, since he had to do time in prison and act the part of a criminal even when he gets out. As soon as he makes contact with Costello, he knows that it could be over at any time. That’s the difference. The difficulty for DiCaprio is making it believable that he could be accepted as a gang member but also letting us see just how difficult it is to handle. I, and, apparently, a majority of folks thought he did a fine job. Still, I won’t argue that The Departed is none-the-less a near perfect ensemble piece. All the actors are firing away. But you can’t take away from DiCaprio’s performance which is far more difficult than it might look. It’s a keeper.
That’s misleading and obviously untrue to claim that it is just now that the praise for DiCaprio is showing up, and merely as some PR ploy or some such nonsense. Most of the reviews I’ve read which came out after its release, had postive words for his performance and a lof of those reviews, singled him out. So it is not just NY Times writer or a few critics which felt he shone in his role. It’s fine if some people don’t like his performance but don’t try to pull the trick of trying to put forth the lame argument that he isn’t deserving of the praise he has gotten.
As far as comparing Damon and DiCaprio, I thought both did fine work, although It’s DiCaprio’s performance that has stayed with me and frankly Damon is not a riveting presence onscreen, in any of his performances.