Haute 100 LA Update: Leonardo DiCaprio Receives Cinema Vanguard Award at the SBIFF

Leonardo DiCaprio and his Wolf of Wall Street director Martin Scorsese were the recipients of this year’s Cinema Vanguard Awards at the 29th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF).

Todd McCarthy sat down with the duo for a retrospective of their five cinematic blockbusters including: Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010) and the aforementioned Wolf. 

The duo received the award from fellow Wolf star Jonah Hill.

While on stage at the Arlington Theater during their tribute, both award winners sipped at glasses of Moët & Chandon.

Gems from their conversation included Scorsese commenting on Leo’s brilliant performance at the start of his career, saying, “I thought Gilbert Grape was a documentary.”

About the heated scenes in Gangs of New York, Scorsese said: “[We did] 20 takes. It took 20 takes. And those were all real hits. I don’t know who ended up in a neck brace?”

On wanting only Scorsese as his Wolf director, DiCaprio said: “I had to have Marty do it. We knew we weren’t taking on great American literature. We were putting culture up on the big screen.” Of the film he also added: “Then Spielberg came to visit us on set (and he stayed all day). As if having Marty directing wasn’t enough! The whole cast were shitting their pants!”

Hill’s quote to his director and castmate was perhaps the funniest of the evening. Before presenting the awards, he told the pair: “You know when you are single, and you don’t have a significant other, and you go to dinner with the absolutely perfect couple. And you walk away from that dinner really wishing for that, wishing for that for yourself. Well, that’s what I hope for… I hope for what you two have found together.”

To see the full Los Angeles list, click here.

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