news archives

December 31, 2002 - Leonardo DiCaprio was interviewed on Access Hollywood for 'Catch Me If You Can' on Monday. Check out a transcript here.

December 30, 2002 - The Sunday People reports Leonardo DiCaprio is keeping up his new healthy lifestyle at the double - leaving an LA juice bar deli with TWO cups of iced yoghurt. The Gangs of New York star has just finished Catch Me If You Can, playing a top Sixties conman. But ex-party animal Leo, 28, now clearly only deals in milk-fakes.

December 28, 2002 - "Of course, I wouldn't have played this character if I didn't admire what he did [on some level]," DiCaprio says of Frank Abagnale in 'Catch Me If You Can'. "He has these innate talents within him, and an instinct to be able to engage people and make people trust him. But he uses his talents in ways that are destructive. I found him to be a completely fascinating character; as soon as I read the script and read the book, I was so drawn to the character, he was someone I just felt I had to play." ent-today.com has since shut down.

December 28, 2002 - Sam Rubin takes a look at the new film "Catch Me If You Can" starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. Is it worth it for you to catch this movie? Feedroom.com has since removed the video.

December 27, 2002 - Several stars shared their least memorable New Year's Eve. Leonardo DiCaprio admits, "Oer-Erkenschwick, Germany. I was 16 years old and spending the New Year with my grandparents, who live there. There was nothing to do - they went to bed early and I just hung out in their house, by myself."

December 27, 2002 - The Calgary Sun reports Leonardo DiCaprio sees making Gangs of New York and Catch Me If You Can back-to-back was the creative cleansing he needed after the celebrity circus of Titanic. "After Titanic came out, I was focusing on things that had nothing to do with why I became an actor in the first place," he said. "It all became about this magazine article, this newspaper story or that TV clip of me. Instead of my world being about actors and directors, it was all about publicists and agents. It was extremely frustrating, distracting and, ultimately, a waste of time."

December 27, 2002 - WGN's Dean sits down with superstars Tom Hanks and Leonard DiCaprio to talk about their new movie 'Catch Me If You Can.' Feedroom has since removed the video.

December 25, 2002 - Bruce Kirkland of the Toronto Sun reviewed 'Catch Me If You Can', giving it 4 stars. He writes, "Here Leonardo DiCaprio is smooth, sweet, deep and delightful in the lead role. Combined with his rugged, visceral performance in 'Gangs Of New York' and it's clear DiCaprio has risen again." Read more.

December 25, 2002 - Jeff Giles of Newsweek has an interview with Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Leonardo DiCaprio to talk about 'Catch Me If You Can'.

December 25, 2002 - Mike Clark of USA Today gives 'Catch Me If You Can' 2 1/2 stars out of 4. He writes, "'Catch' offers mild fun but never as much as its animated '60s-retro opening credits portend. They're the cutest of the year." Read more.

December 25, 2002 - Paul Clinton of CNN writes, "'Catch Me If You Can' is wildly entertaining from start to finish. From its sassy beginning to its dark conclusion, this film delivers an enormous bang for your movie-going buck." Read more.

December 24, 2002 - Chuck Rudolph of slant magazine reviewed the Leonardo DiCaprio starring 'Catch Me If You Can' giving it a 3 1/2 out of 4 star review. Read more.

December 24, 2002 - "[Leonardo DiCaprio is] more brilliant now than he was in 'Gilbert Grape,'" director Steven Spielberg told Katrillion, comparing Leo's current performance with his Oscar-nominated role in the 1993 drama, 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape.' "He's very critical of himself. He spends many, many minutes looking at every playback after we do a take. He's very into authenticity. He doesn't ever want to let you catch him acting."

December 24, 2002 - Catch the full interview on Tuesday's CBS The Early Show where he talks about 'Catch Me If You Can'. Look at a preview here.

December 24, 2002 - Jami Bernard of The New York Daily News reviewed the Leonardo DiCaprio starring 'Catch Me If You Can' giving it a 3 star review.

December 22, 2002 - Leonardo DiCaprio is featured in the new issue of Us Weekly (2002 Best Dressed List), where they describe how he got his mojo back. Included reasons were 'He shows range!', 'He's not vain', 'He split with supermodel Gisele Bundchen', 'His acting is even hotter', 'He has proven he's more than a pretty face.'

December 22, 2002 - Amy Adams tells the Indianapolis Star that she wasn't expecting to get the role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in 'Catch Me If You Can'. "I'd auditioned for big films before, and gotten close, but they typically went with someone who had a better reputation and more work under their belt. I think it worked to my advantage because I was more relaxed and I was able to really focus on the character."

December 21, 2002 - Louis B Hobson of the Calgary Sun gives 'Gangs Of New York' a four-star rating. Read more.

December 21, 2002 - Chuck Rudolph of slant magazine gives 'Gangs Of New York' a four-star rating. Read more.

December 21, 2002 - Ed Gonzalez of slant magazine gives 'The Two Towers' a 3 1/2 star rating. Read more.

December 21, 2002 - New York magazine reports Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz's coziness with each other last week certainly raised some eyebrows. After leaving the premiere of La Bohème, the Gangs of New York co-stars made quite an appearance at Dorsea, which was hosting the after-party for Chambord's GreenSky Healing Hands charity dinner at Danube. "Cameron seemed mesmerized by Leo," an onlooker reports. "She was stroking his baseball cap, stroking the hair on the back of his neck. She had her hands all over his head." Read more.

December 20, 2002 - Leonardo DiCaprio's best actor nod brought the only Golden Globe nomination for 'Catch Me If You Can', starring Tom Hanks and directed by Steven Spielberg. In a statement to Access Hollywood, Leo praised his colleagues from both 'Catch Me' and 'Gangs of New York', saying: "It was a fantastic experience to work on 'Catch Me if You Can', and I especially want to thank Steven, Tom and the entire cast and crew for an unforgettable experience. I also want to congratulate Marty (Scorsese), Daniel (Day-Lewis), Cameron (Diaz) and U2 for their well-deserved nominations."

December 20, 2002 - Cameron Diaz tells the CBS Early Show that her friendship with Leonardo DiCaprio made things even easier doing 'Gangs of New York'. "We've been friends for a long time. So, we knew one another already. And so, there was that kind of ease with one another. I've known him since he was really young," she says laughing. "We were younger; well, I'm older than him. So, but we kind of grew up in this business together, in a way." Read more.

December 20, 2002 - Reuters has a video clip of the L.A. audience gets glimpse of 'Gangs of New York', including Cameron Diaz talking about Leonardo DiCaprio. Rogers.com has since removed the video.

December 19, 2002 - Leonardo DiCaprio attended the 'Gangs Of New York' premiere in Los Angeles on Tuesday (December 17) at The Directors Guild. Check out photos from Rex Features and WireImage.com.

December 19, 2002 - Dean Richards of WGN spent the weekend in New York to talk with two of the biggest stars in the world, Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. Feedroom has since removed the video.

December 19, 2002 - At the Los Angeles premiere of "Catch Me If You Can" photographers tried to capture the image of the movie's leading star - Leonardo DiCaprio was on hand. Rogers.com has since removed the video.

December 19, 2002 - The National Enquirer has a photo of Leonardo DiCaprio and his dad checking out their tabloid at a newsstand in Hollywood.

December 18, 2002 - Samantha Miller of People magazine profiles the movie return of Leonardo DiCaprio. Read more.

December 18, 2002 - IMDB.com reports Gangs Of New York co-stars Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio have been spotted in a intimate clinch - sparking rumors their on- screen romance may have become real.

December 18, 2002 - Leo had plenty to say about his cool character at the premiere of Catch Me If You Can. "[My character] impersonates an airline pilot and a lawyer and a doctor as well as many other things," he told Entertainment Tonight. "When you find someone this good at conning, it comes naturally to them, you know?"

December 18, 2002 - Leonardo DiCaprio attended the 'Catch Me If You Can' premiere at the Mann Village Theater in Westwood, California on Monday (December 16). Check out pictures from WireImage.com.

December 18, 2002 - Globe magazine reports that Leonardo DiCaprio's 2-year-old dog Max got into a bloody brawl with a spy's dog named Hunter, a 9-year-old toothless Weimaraner. Leo's mother Imrelin pulled the dog off of Hunter, and Leo has offered to pay the vet bills.

December 18, 2002 - Cindy Adams of the New York Post reports Leonardo DiCaprio sat by himself on the back step of his Essex House, while females panted for him at the front door.

December 18, 2002 - MTV News reports Tom Hanks and others gushed similarly about Leonardo DiCaprio, declaring, "Leo is the hardest working, most intelligent actor I've ever come across." Read more.

December 17, 2002 - Chicago Sun-Times reports that on Saturday, there was a bit of consternation when Leonardo DiCaprio announced he'd rather take a nap than chat with newsies who had trekked to New York to chat about 'Catch Me If You Can.' It took a somewhat stern lecture from his director Steven Spielberg (part-owner of the DreamWorks studio that made the picture) to persuade DiCaprio to get downstairs and promote the film.

December 17, 2002 - "I think that after 'Titanic' was definitely a reflective time for me, where I really secured in my own mind who I wanted to be," Leonardo DiCaprio tells John Clark of the San Francisco Chronicle. "I don't think that was much different from what my original intentions were as an actor." Read more.

December 17, 2002 - Time magazine previews Leonardo DiCaprio films 'The Gangs of New York' and 'Catch Me If You Can'. Check it out here.

December 17, 2002 - A young man named Amsterdam (Leonardo DiCaprio) seeks vengeance against Bill "The Butcher" Poole. DeCaprio talks more about his role to KTLA. Feedroom.com has since removed the video.

December 17, 2002 - The New York Post reports Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicole Kidman were spotted dining together at Mr. Chow.

December 17, 2002 - The Mirror reports Leonardo DiCaprio was spotted canoodling with a mystery girl known only as Bettina on Saturday night at Noel Ashman's party in Centrofly, New York. "They were definitely together," says our source. "It was clear to everyone they were more than just friends and then they left together."

December 16, 2002 - ''I've never been the type of actor that has taken home with me anything from my character, like a lot of actors that I've worked with,'' Leonardo DiCaprio tells the Boston Globe, his hands buried in the pockets of a track jacket zipped up to his chin. "I can't embody the character 24 hours a day. And if I did, I'd go crazy. I'm just not set up that way."

December 14, 2002 - Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com writes, "I hate to dispute my colleague Jeannette Walls, but Leonardo DiCaprio's accent in Gangs of New York got high praise the other night from actual Irish people. Indeed, the manager of the little Irish boy who plays a young Leo in the film — a woman who was born and raised in Dublin — happened to tell a bunch of us that DiCaprio's brogue was 100 percent authentic. But oy, some other accents she's heard! A bad one? 'Brad Pitt in Devil's Own,' the lady offered. 'That one was wide off the mark.'"

December 14, 2002 - Pals tell Globe magazine that Leonardo DiCaprio is a kid at heart. "Leo doesn't want to grow up. And being filthy ritch means he's got a license to do whatever he likes. He's a self-indulgent little boy who gets whatever he wants." As for he and pal Tobey Maguire: "They lounge around all day seeing who can get the highest score on the latest games."

December 13, 2002 - "Sometimes he sounds Irish, sometimes like a surfer dude," a source says of Leonardo DiCaprio's voice in 'Gangs of New York'. "Maybe it was meant to suggest that his accent changes over time, but it's incredibly distracting."

December 13, 2002 - Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't think he's quite as cool as his character in 'Catch Me If You Can'. He tells Extra TV, "Well, the truth of the matter is, I don't have the gusto of Frank Abagnale. I wouldn't be able, for example, to walk into an airport riddled with FBI agents and bring in 10 stewardesses, even though I knew everyone had a picture posted of me and was trying to catch me. But these are the things that he did." Watch the clip here.

December 12, 2002 - "'Titanic' completely transformed my life," Leonardo DiCaprio tells USA Today. "I would suddenly find myself being chased by four or five different paparazzi in places that I had been driving my whole life or walking in my whole life." Read more.

December 12, 2002 - Globe Photos had pictures, since removed, of Leonardo DiCaprio with mother and grandmother leaving the 'Chicago' play on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in New York City on Tuesday (December 10).

December 12, 2002 - Access Hollywood caught up with Leonardo DiCaprio and asked him if he's evolved in his ability to deal with the press. He said, "Yeah, I think I have because I think I understood more now than ever that you want people to believe you in the role that you do and the more you divulge on your personal life and your feelings on whatever it may be, the more people understand and feel like they know you."

December 12, 2002 - "I think a lot of people misunderstand me," Leonardo DiCaprio tells the New York Post. "I don't like to fight every little thing that's said about me because there's no way to control it. It's a losing battle."

December 12, 2002 - A spy tells the New York Daily News that Gisele was hanging out with friends and doing a little spin on her romance with Leonardo DiCaprio the night he was in the Big Apple for the 'Gangs of New York' premiere. She's saying that she dumped him. Why? Well, he refused to stop his nightcrawling, settle down and commit. So now Bundchen has moved on into the arms of Brazilian polo player Ricardo Mansur.

December 11, 2002 - Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight spoke with Leonardo DiCaprio and asked him foresees family, marriage for yourself in the future. "Sure, absolutely. (laughs) Absolutely!"

December 11, 2002 - Leonardo DiCaprio, Heidi Klum, Leo, U2's Bono and The Edge were amongst the stars at the the 'Gangs of New York' premiere at Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on Monday (December 9). Check out photos from Rex Features (page1 / page2 / page3 / page4 / page5) and WireImage.com.

December 10, 2002 - The Las Vegas Sun reports E! Channel hostess, calendar girl and swimsuit designer Brooke Burke was up late Friday night playfighting with Ultimate Fighters Josh "Baby Face" Barnett and Chuck Liddle and then flirting with Chi McBride, the tough-guy principal on 'Boston Public,' at ghostbar.

December 10, 2002 - During press interviews Saturday for his upcoming film "Gangs of New York," Leonardo DiCaprio was amused by a new revelation of his celebrityhood. After taking a cigarette break in the hotel hallway outside his interview suite, the actor extinguished the butt in a glass of water.

December 10, 2002 - "I'll do The Aviator first and then Alexander. Both those movies should take at least eight months so I'm essentially booked up for the next two years," says Leo DiCaprio of his two upcoming movies to the Calgary Sun. Read more.

December 10, 2002 - Mary Hart interviewed Leonardo DiCaprio for 'Gangs of New York'. Leo says the experience was a real history lesson for him: "I never learned anything about this period, and it's almost like the lost city of Atlantis in a way. It was literally the greatest urban riot in American history. It was a huge culmination of events. And New York, almost at one point, was to become its own separate entity because so many crazy things were going on."

December 10, 2002 - Tonight on the A&E "Biography" of Oscar-winner Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard spill behind-the-camera stories on working with Hanks.

December 10, 2002 - The New York Post reports Hollywood's hottest stars braved the bitter cold last night for the New York premiere of Martin Scorsese's long-awaited flick "Gangs of New York." Its star, Leonardo DiCaprio, dapperly dressed in a dark pinstripe suit, arrived at the Ziegfeld Theatre to wild cheers of his screaming fans, who called out, "Leo! Leo!"

December 6, 2002 - Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com said after seeing 'Catch Me If You Can': "I've seen it though and I am happy to tell you it's a hit through and through. Leonardo DiCaprio is most assuredly going to get an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and the movie and director are probably headed for similar awards." Read more.

December 6, 2002 - WENN reports Daniel Day-Lewis is fuming at reports that his refusal to come out of character during filming of 'Gangs Of New York' caused problems on the set - and he's demanding to know who made the comment. He says, "They never have the balls to actually give it to you face-to-face. Some person apparently commented how he thought, maybe, I'd been uncooperative. That I made it hard for Leo (DiCaprio) because of the way I worked. Obviously Leo is the only person who can say that, or Cameron (Diaz), or any of my other colleagues. I don't know how the fu** this guy thinks he knows what took place on that set. Was he implying there was some degree of rigidity? Is what I do any crazier than lying on a daybed, smoking dope and making calls to your business manager? Only the end result matters when it comes to creating a character."

December 6, 2002 - Destiny's Child star Kelly Rowland had the chance to interview Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz of Martin Scorcese's epic 'Gangs of New York'. Check out a transcript and watch a video clip of Kelly preparing to interview Leonardo DiCaprio here. Also, Extra TV has a preview of the interview here.

December 4, 2002 - Leonardo DiCaprio is a real-life schoolboy con man named Frank Abagnale, who posed as a pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor during a bizarre 21-month crime spree back in the 1960's. Leo actually met the rogue himself while researching the part. He says, "There were a lot of conversations I had with Frank where he unconsciously didn't even realize certain things he was doing to deceive people." Watch the video here.

December 3, 2002 - In the hotly awaited 'Gangs,' Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio get physical in a rather raunchy and violent love scene. Cameron recounted to Vanity Fair, "We basically beat the [expletive] out of each other for the day ... but it was a lot of fun. ... At one point, it just became a test of staminas, like, who was going to be able to endure it? Who was going to be able to flail about the longest without having a complete coronary?"

December 1, 2002 - Globe magazine reports Leo DiCaprio and his posse couldn't get into the Falcon nightclub in Hollywood, because he and his five pals would overpower the amount of women in the bar at the time. Leo couldn't buy his way in this time, and had to stand in line like everyone else.

December 1, 2002 - A transcript of Leonardo DiCaprio's interview on 20/20 has been posted on the forums. Check it out here.

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