Martin Scorsese Had No Idea Who Leonardo DiCaprio Was — Until He Watched This Legendary Film

Martin Scorsese Had No Idea Who Leonardo DiCaprio Was — Until He Watched This Legendary Film Undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) disguises himself with a cap as he peeks around the corner of a brick wall in 'The Departed' (2006).Image via Warner Bros. Pictures By  André Joseph Published 29 minutes ago André Joseph is a movie features writer at Collider. Born and raised in New York City, he graduated from Emerson College with a Bachelor's Degree in Film. He freelances as an independent filmmaker, teacher, and blogger of all things pop culture. His interests include Marvel, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Robocop, wrestling, and many other movies and TV shows. His accomplishments as a filmmaker include directing the indie movie Vendetta Games now playing on Tubi, the G.I. Joe fan film "The Rise of Cobra" on YouTube, and receiving numerous accolades for his dramatic short film Dismissal Time. More information can be found about André on his official website. Sign in to your Collider account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

From the moment he captured moviegoers’ attention as a child star, Leonardo DiCaprio has displayed a unique ability to light up the screen with grounded, authentic personalities in his stellar performances. Whether he plays a teenage victim of child abuse in This Boy’s Life or a world-weary revolutionary in One Battle After Another, DiCaprio can lose himself in his characters and make anyone believe his portrayal. Such was the case for his longtime collaborator Martin Scorsese upon viewing the star’s first Oscar-nominated performance in 1993’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

The coming-of-age drama, based on Peter Hedges’s 1991 novel, stands out not only because of star Johnny Depp’s dramatic turn as a struggling provider for his dysfunctional family but also due to DiCaprio’s honest portrayal of Depp’s mentally challenged brother. While not a box office hit, Gilbert Grape received worldwide acclaim, holding a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert singling out then-19-year-old DiCaprio as a deserving Best Supporting Actor winner.

Released just nine years before the star worked with Scorsese on Gangs of New York, the iconic filmmaker recalled to Collider in 2014 that the Lasse Hallstrom production felt real because he had no clue who DiCaprio was outside of Robert De Niro recommending him. “I hadn’t seen Gilbert Grape in the theater, but I happened to catch part of it on television, on one of the film channels,” Scorsese said. “Myself and my wife were watching it, and I thought it was a documentary. I didn’t know. I didn’t recognize Johnny [Depp]. The mother was great. And I was amazed by [Leo]. And then, I realized that it was actually a staged film. I thought, ‘Who’s that boy?' We saw the name, and it was the name that DeNiro told me about.”

What Is 'Gilbert Grape' About?

Iowa store clerk Gilbert Grape (Depp) juggles a day job at Lamson’s Grocery and caring for his family. The latter is the result of Gilbert’s father’s suicide after his business collapsed years prior, and his morbidly obese mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates), is physically incapable of being responsible for the young man’s siblings, including Arnie (DiCaprio), as well as sisters Amy (Laura Harrington) and Ellen (Mary Kate Schellardt). The closest escape to a life outside work for Gilbert is a forbidden affair with a desperate housewife (Mary Steenburgen), whom he delivers groceries to. But with Bonnie unable to step foot out of the Grape household, Gilbert deeply yearns for something more than carrying his dysfunctional family on his back.

Gilbert’s stressful life takes a dramatic turn when the freethinking Becky (Juliette Lewis) and her grandmother’s RV break down in the small town. Soon, a deep relationship develops between Gilbert and Becky, interrupting the routine family obligations, which creates friction between Gilbert and Bonnie. Even Arnie becomes increasingly unstable due to Gilbert’s frequent absences. As Gilbert discovers true love through Becky, his desire for real change outside his simple surroundings grows bigger.

Gilbert Grape shares a thematic similarity to 1997’s Good Will Hunting. Both dramas feature protagonists with the potential to be more than the environment they survive in, but accept the reality as a comfort zone that they are too afraid to stray from. Director Hallstrom paints a raw portrait of a debilitated household in the middle of nowhere that’s often looked down upon by the locals within the small population. His direction, along with Sven Nykvist’s muted cinematography color palette, lays the foundation for a fly-on-the-wall perspective for the audience to view the Grape family as flawed yet as tight as any loving family. For Depp, his usual quirky characteristics that made him a ‘90s icon with Edward Scissorhands are completely removed in his somber portrayal of Gilbert. He’s handsome and wholesome on the outside, while deeply insecure and strained by the lack of freedom. Just as compelling as Depp in Gilbert Grape is Cates as the immobile matriarch, whose performance is simply devastating and moving all at once. Upon her untimely death in 2017, Cates was eulogized by DiCaprio in a powerful Facebook post (per Vanity Fair), calling the actress "the best acting mom [he] ever had the privilege of working alongside."

Leonardo DiCaprio Is the Beating Heart of ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape'

Where Depp provides the soul to Gilbert Grape, DiCaprio is the movie’s beating heart. He takes on the Arnie role with natural rhythms between his tics, physical fidgets, random bursts of laughter, and slurred speech. None of those traits ever feel scripted nor rehearsed, because DiCaprio processes every emotion with a breath of life that blends into the low-income surroundings.

There’s a moment in Gilbert Grape in which DiCaprio’s Arnie gets slapped around by the title character after ruining not one but two birthday cakes. The scene is more centered around Gilbert’s unrestrained outburst due to his cursed living situation. However, DiCaprio’s response to the physical violence is not fighting back, but his lack of understanding of pain and sadness. The emotional brutality of the scene with the documentary-like approach that Hallstrom goes for is exactly what made a filmmaker of Scorsese’s caliber believe in the true empathy that runs through DiCaprio’s performance.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is streaming on Pluto TV in the US.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Like PG-13 Drama Release Date December 17, 1993 Runtime 118 minutes Director Lasse Hallström Writers Peter Hedges Producers Alan C. Blomquist, Bertil Ohlsson, David Matalon

Cast

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• Juliette Lewis Gilbert Grape
• Leonardo DiCaprio Becky
• Mary Steenburgen Arnie Grape
• Laura Harrington Betty Carver

Genres Drama Powered by Expand Collapse

• Movie Features
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Johnny Depp

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