On one occasion, the actor felt that his role in a movie was not right for him at all, but he decided to do it anyway.
Leonardo DiCaprio is responsible for several of the most iconic roles in cinema in recent years, but there is one of them that the Oscar winner hates. According to Far Out Magazine, “On one occasion, the actor felt that his role in a movie was not right for him at all, but he decided to do it anyway.” This is the wealthy Calvin J. Candie, the evil plantation owner who appears in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained.
According to the aforementioned medium, DiCaprio's refusal to give life to the racist upper-class landowner was because the character represented the complete opposite of his values. “He was this incredibly interesting horrible character,” DiCaprio said in an interview while commenting on the role. “I mean, there was absolutely nothing about this man that I could relate to. He hated him and he was one of the most narcissistic and racist characters I have ever read in my entire life.”
Once the acclaimed film hit theaters, the criticism was quick to arrive. In fact, one of those who raised his voice against Tarantino's feature film was Spike Lee, who targeted his colleague for using racist language and defined the film as disrespectful. However, DiCaprio accepted the role after Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson, two African-American actors, encouraged him to do so.
"One of the pivotal moments for me was this initial reading," he recalled. "I was wondering if it had to be so violent and atrocious to other human beings, and it was Sam and Jamie who said, 'If you sugarcoat this, people are going to be upset.' "I resent you very much. You have to take this guy to the extreme. That's what drove me to continue as I did with the character," DiCaprio concluded.
