The Great Acting Blog: “The Desire To Be Great”
Chuck Bowen, in a recent piece in Keyframe Daily, said that Leonardo Di Caprio, despite his strivings in recent years, was someone “auditioning for the role of Great Actor”, he was “not quite” there. Although I haven’t seen The Wolf Of Wall Street yet, I would broadly go along with this assessment of Di Caprio – he has the desire and the drive to be a great actor, but I do not believe him to be one – technically nor in his creative decision-making.
The lesson of course, is that to be a great actor the desire, the drive to be one, must be present. One thinks of Robert De Niro or Charles Laughton, who went to obsessive lengths in their work to get it right, and this resulted in some of the most extraordinary performances we have ever seen. But it didn’t “just happen”. Elite sportspeople are similarly driven and consequently put in the work.
Di Caprio may yet achieve his goal, but regardless of whether he does or not, he is to be commended for his efforts. Few actors in contemporary Hollywood seem interested in anything other than achieving a benign popularity. To see an actor with as grand a platform as Di Caprio strive to do great work, is important for potential younger actors because their first exposure to film acting is usually via Hollywood movies. If they see the desire to be great in the big name actors of the day, then it may ignite their own and inspire them to begin their artistic journey. What is important is that young people are inspired not to be actors, but great actors.
Subscribe to The Great Acting Blog
