Over the span of his career, Leonardo DiCaprio has never been one to lose momentum. Now, when it comes to picking and choosing projects, the Oscar-winning actor, 50, seems to have shifted his perspective.
“I’m slowing down a bit,” DiCaprio told People of what his next “chapter” looks like during the Hollywood premiere of his new movie, “One Battle After Another.”
“When these opportunities come up, I mean, I can’t say no,” he said of working with writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson on the upcoming comedy.
LEONARDO DICAPRIO ADMITS DEEP REGRET OVER PASSING ON MAJOR HOLLYWOOD MOVIE
“I think anytime would’ve been the right time, to be honest,” he continued. “Ever since I met Paul early on and I saw ‘Boogie Nights,’ I’ve been an obsessive fan of his work, watched all his movies. His films ruminate in my mind and they’re conversation pieces with my friends, they last.”
“Awards can come and go,” he added. “Accolades, box office can come and go, but those pieces of art, that you still talk about and still think about and still question. Those are the films that we strive for as an actor. And Paul is the dude of our generation that does them.”
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Earlier this year, in a candid sit-down with Anderson for Esquire, he was asked, “If you didn’t know how old you are, how old are you right now?”
Without missing a beat, DiCaprio replied, “32.”
When Anderson asked DiCaprio if turning 50 sparked a moment of reflection, he said the milestone left him with “a desire to just be more honest and not waste your time.”
“I can only imagine how the next few decades are going to progress. I look at my mother, for example, and she just says exactly what she thinks and wastes no time. She spends no time trying to fake it.”
“Being more upfront and risking having things fall apart or risk the disagreements or risk going your separate ways from any type of relationship in life—the personal, professional—it’s that you just don’t want to waste your time anymore,” DiCaprio emphasized.
“You have to just be much more upfront. It’s almost a responsibility, because much more of your life is behind you than it is ahead of you.”
Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Giang-Paunon contributed to this report.
