Leonardo DiCaprio has expressed worry about the ways in which the art of movies is changing.
The 51-year-old actor, who has emerged as an Oscars favorite for his lead role in One Battle After Another, lamented the current release model of movies and how theatrical runs have been cut short to accommodate the age of streaming.
“It’s changing at a lightning speed,” he told The Times of London. “We’re looking at a huge transition. First, documentaries disappeared from cinemas. Now, dramas only get finite time and people wait to see it on streamers. I don’t know.”
DiCaprio ponders whether “people still have the appetite” for movie theaters, or if cinemas will become silos — “like jazz bars?”
“I just hope enough people who are real visionaries get opportunities to do unique things in the future that are seen in the cinema,” he added. “But that remains to be seen.”
DiCaprio is certainly not alone in his fears. His remarks echo those of numerous Hollywood heavyweights, including his longtime collaborator Martin Scorsese, 83, who previously slated streaming services for reducing films to “content.”
In a blistering 2021 essay for Harper’s Magazine, the legendary auteur declared that “the art of cinema is being systematically devalued, sidelined, demeaned, and reduced to its lowest common denominator” by the streaming system.
“As recently as 15 years ago, the term ‘content’ was heard only when people were discussing the cinema on a serious level, and it was contrasted with and measured against ‘form,’” Scorsese wrote. “Then, gradually, it was used more and more by the people who took over media companies, most of whom knew nothing about the history of the art form, or even cared enough to think that they should.”
DiCaprio currently leads Paul Thomas Anderson’s critically acclaimed dark comedy One Battle After Another as washed-up revolutionary Bob Ferguson, who’s forced out of hiding when an old nemesis resurfaces, and his daughter goes missing.
He’s so far earned a Golden Globe nomination for best male actor in a film – musical or comedy for his performance, while the film itself dominated the film categories with nine nominations.
Also starring Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall, Sean Penn and newcomer Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another is expected to receive numerous Oscar nods later this month, including for Best Picture.
In a five-star rave review of the film for The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey described it as “a ferocious American masterpiece.”
“Anderson has directed a swaggering, funny and timely action epic,” she praised, “where momentum never lets up and supporting actors Sean Penn and Teyana Taylor steal the show.”
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