The Finest Comic Actor Working Today Is Leonardo DiCaprio

The last five films Leonardo DiCaprio has starred in have all been Oscar-nominated for Best Picture, and it seems fairly certain that Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another will add to this run when nominations are announced early next year. Some of this speaks to DiCaprio’s stature in the industry: He is one of the last remaining movie stars, the kind of actor who can instantly get a Big Important Movie green-lit with a Big Important Budget. That’s one reason why heavy-hitter auteurs like Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorsese like to work with him (aside from the primary reason, which is that he’s an amazing actor). But there’s something else here, too, something about the way that DiCaprio’s style has changed over the years. Somehow, over the past decade or so, he’s become one of our finest comic performers.