Leonardo DiCaprio talks comparisons with Robert Pattinson

Leonardo DiCaprio has little to worry about these days, having long gotten over the career bump that was Titanic. Up to that point, the young turk was carving out a career as a beautiful, beguiling character actor. Suddenly, he was a star. His previous outing, Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet lit the fuse, DiCaprio suddenly a pin-up of every young girl's wall. The tragic role of Jack in Titanic was enough for the young Leonardo DiCaprio's career to explode. To the point where the 23-year old actor couldn't step outside his door without the paparazzi photographing his every move. And the world constantly contemplating his next move.

A bit like Robert Pattinson after Twilight broke. Only even more mental.

"I can see it happening with Robert Pattinson, absolutely," laughs DiCaprio, "and it brings back such happy, and crappy, memories. Your life isn't your own when that kind of stardom happens, and you have tabloids every day making up stories about you.

"It's not exactly what an actor dreams of, because your anonymity is gone."

Suddenly, you're Elvis, and that means playing someone else for an audience is nigh on impossible. DiCaprio addressed the issue by playing a variation of himself at that time in Woody Allen's Celebrity, but when he tried to actually act in 1998's The Man In The Iron Mask and 2000's The Beach, audiences just wanted more Jack. Or more Romeo. More Leo.

Today, the 35-year old actor has his career firmly back on track, the boyish good looks still just about there, but those few lines, and the first hints of middle-aged stockiness, giving DiCaprio back the power to be someone else other than a pin-up.

"Getting older has certainly helped," he smiles. "I always knew that I was going to have to wait, to just put my head down and do some good work.

Full interview at the source