Leonardo DiCaprio is the first to admit the subject matter of Christoper Nolan’s “Inception” was a little foreign to him. The film is an elaborate heist drama about a man (DiCaprio) skilled in stealing information from a target’s subconscious through their dreams. And DiCaprio? “I’m not a big dreamer,” he admits. “I remember fragments of my dreams.”
This is DiCaprio’s first foray into science fiction, something about which he admits he’s never had much interest. “One of the earliest conversations I had with Chris was how both of us have a hard time with science fiction,” he says. “We have a little bit of an aversion to it because it’s hard for us to emotionally invest in worlds that are too far detached from what we know.” He credits Nolan’s style of filmmaking and storytelling for allaying his fears. “What’s interesting about Chris Nolan’s science fiction worlds is that they’re deeply rooted in things that we’ve seen before,” DiCaprio says. “There’s not too much of a leap of faith to make.”
“Inception” comes on the heels of another viscerally bleak drama starring the actor, “Shutter Island.” DiCaprio admits he has a penchant for the dark side. “Films that are psychologically dark at times I find extremely exciting to do because there’s always something to think about,” he says. “There’s nothing more boring than to show up on set and say a line and know that your character means exactly what they say.”
While those sets continue to be for films of his explicit choosing, the Oscar-nominated actor isn’t taking anything for granted. “I realize every day how lucky I am to have this opportunity,”?he says. “So while I’m here I’m going to try to do exactly what I want.”
