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Is Leo as good as a Prime Deniro?
- Thread starter ThousandEyes
- Start date
It isn't even a contest, Di Caprio is nowhere near De Niro. He's not a bad actor but he's not a great actor either. Of course both of them have been in lots of crap films and phoned in lots of performances, like all actors, but De Niro at his best is in a completely different universe. Even his performance in a silly movie like Cape Feare is something Di Caprio could never pull off, never mind Taxi Driver, Raging Bull etc.
That is such an incredible roll of him.
De Niro playing such a looser was really awesome.
Leo is good but a lot of his performances come off as him trying too hard to be showy. De Niro is a much more natural actor and in his prime had far more nuance to his performances than Leo. It just seemed effortless.
I respectfully disagree because of Arnie in Gilbert Grape. Did it so well some people were surprised he wasn't actually disabled. And he played that role with such respect and nuance. Just a great role.
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No, they don't. And most of young Era wasn't alive in De Niros prime and it shows.
I'd say Jake Gyllenhaal, despite being in some stinkers, is the best of the current crop of mainstream actors.
Deniro has done way more interesting roles IMO. Godfather, Taxi Driver, Cape Fear. Even the Meet the Parents stuff was great.
Leo feels samey in every movie. Leo needs to do a wider range of stuff.
Leo feels samey in every movie. Leo needs to do a wider range of stuff.
I don't like these comparisons as I don't think they add anything to the discussion. Additionally, people will be way too biased anyways depending on which actor had his high during their informative years.
That said, I do think Leo is an incredible actor and probably my favourite one. That's enough for me and I don't care how he compares to other fantastic actors.
That said, I do think Leo is an incredible actor and probably my favourite one. That's enough for me and I don't care how he compares to other fantastic actors.
I laughed because 99% of his part is "on set" in the movie and he sounds like he does when he's cold reading SNL cue cards, and I couldn't tell how much of that was deliberate or just how he delivers lines these days.
Leo is, but not De Niro. He's more like Scorsese's partner, kinda like Kurosawa and Mifune. They're the same age too.
I honestly have no idea what people see in Leo as an actor.
I've never found him to disappear into his roles in the way that other (often less decorated) actors can, and just don't think any of his performances are particularly impressive. I really think the memes surrounding his never winning the Oscar created this perception that he's better than he is, when the reality is that he was beaten by the better actor each and every time. He always picks great films to be a part of (helped in part by his relationship with Scorsese) but I can't think of any film where he's the genuine standout. Even in The Revenant I thought Tom Hardy was far more impressive.
Oh and by the way: Leo continuing with a scene after cutting himself says literally nothing about his skills as an actor. Neither does him getting all up inside a real animal carcass. That speaks to his dedication, but it's always funny seeing people mention his penchant for doing stuff like that as what real acting™ looks like.
He doesn't even compare favourably to other younger actors like Jake Gyllenhaal, let alone icons like De Niro.
I've never found him to disappear into his roles in the way that other (often less decorated) actors can, and just don't think any of his performances are particularly impressive. I really think the memes surrounding his never winning the Oscar created this perception that he's better than he is, when the reality is that he was beaten by the better actor each and every time. He always picks great films to be a part of (helped in part by his relationship with Scorsese) but I can't think of any film where he's the genuine standout. Even in The Revenant I thought Tom Hardy was far more impressive.
Oh and by the way: Leo continuing with a scene after cutting himself says literally nothing about his skills as an actor. Neither does him getting all up inside a real animal carcass. That speaks to his dedication, but it's always funny seeing people mention his penchant for doing stuff like that as what real acting™ looks like.
He doesn't even compare favourably to other younger actors like Jake Gyllenhaal, let alone icons like De Niro.
I will say that he was pretty damn good in a few scenes of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, most notably the one with the little actress girl.
I definitely agree. Dude is incredible and very underrated by people.
Anyone who's not rating him needs to watch Enemy, Prisoners and Nightwalker. Complete transformation in each one.
Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Cape Feare, and Raging Bull are all wildly different characters and performances in which De Niro is basically unrecognizable, especially comparing them to one another. And those are just Scorsese movies. Add in Once Upon a Time in America, The Deer Hunter (wildly overrated movie, but De Niro is awesome in it), Brazil, Jackie Brown, and plenty of other roles in which De Niro actively elevates middlebrow material, and this is just ludicrous.
Anyone here that says that Leo "isn't even a good actor" has some sort of jealously relative to his personal lifestyle or disdain for his early (equally impressive) career. Adult Leo is one of the most compelling actors of our generation and gives every last performance his all.
Or he's just not that good. He is the professional version of the kid in high school drama club who gets all the lead roles but always just looks like a kid in a costume.
I have literally no idea what Leo does in his personal life.
He's still a very average actor.
Leonardo is an incredible actor. Anyone claiming otherwise is balls to the walls insane. He still has a long while to go. The only other person in this generation who really matches Leo is Bale.
I mean off the top of my head: Catch me if you can, inception, django, revenant, the departed, once upon a time in Hollywood, wolf of Wall Street, aviator etc.
Deniro has more classic roles but I'm willing to bet DiCaprio will "surpass" him by the end of his career. Deniro currently is obviously one of the GOATs, no doubt.
Both are top tier in their generation.
I mean off the top of my head: Catch me if you can, inception, django, revenant, the departed, once upon a time in Hollywood, wolf of Wall Street, aviator etc.
Deniro has more classic roles but I'm willing to bet DiCaprio will "surpass" him by the end of his career. Deniro currently is obviously one of the GOATs, no doubt.
Both are top tier in their generation.
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let's start with whether Leo's better than post-prime Deniro
still unfair, yet the tiniest bit less so
still unfair, yet the tiniest bit less so
I think he's probably got a better breadth of work.
Leo has a much greater variety and breadth of work, at the top of his game, than Deniro did. Deniro had a string of three amazing movies early in his career, The Godfather II, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull, within 5 years, and they're his best work.
Movies like Goodfellas, Casino, and Heat came out over 10 years later, as a sort of Robert Deniro renaissance, and while those were great, they're not "Prime Deniro," they're just great movies that happen to have a very good Robert Deniro in them. He didn't make those great movies like how he made Taxi Driver and Raging Bull great movies. And then the early-90s Deniro renaissance, he really hasn't had a serious role where he's not playing a caricature of his other characters... For the last 25 years, Robert Deniro has been playing a fish-out-of-water-robert-deniro-character in basically every film (and at least one movie where he plays a fish-in-water-robert-deniro-character).
I think his best acting performance since the early 90s run is Silver Linings Playbook, but it's not a leading role.
Deniro, though, took more chances on movies in the 80s... Like, Leo would have never done a movie like Brazil. And so it gives him a solid variety early in his career, but I can't help be clouded by the last 25 years or Robert Deniro movies.
Leo has a much greater variety and breadth of work, at the top of his game, than Deniro did. Deniro had a string of three amazing movies early in his career, The Godfather II, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull, within 5 years, and they're his best work.
Movies like Goodfellas, Casino, and Heat came out over 10 years later, as a sort of Robert Deniro renaissance, and while those were great, they're not "Prime Deniro," they're just great movies that happen to have a very good Robert Deniro in them. He didn't make those great movies like how he made Taxi Driver and Raging Bull great movies. And then the early-90s Deniro renaissance, he really hasn't had a serious role where he's not playing a caricature of his other characters... For the last 25 years, Robert Deniro has been playing a fish-out-of-water-robert-deniro-character in basically every film (and at least one movie where he plays a fish-in-water-robert-deniro-character).
I think his best acting performance since the early 90s run is Silver Linings Playbook, but it's not a leading role.
Deniro, though, took more chances on movies in the 80s... Like, Leo would have never done a movie like Brazil. And so it gives him a solid variety early in his career, but I can't help be clouded by the last 25 years or Robert Deniro movies.
Deniro, prime Deniro, is magnificent. The other guy isn't. He's basically more or less his persona up there with a few tweaks. On the other hand with actors like Day Lewis, and early Deniro what you see is subtley and the nuances of a particular character, from thin air, and is the height of an actors craft and true art.
DiCaprio is pretty much always the daring rouge.
DiCaprio is pretty much always the daring rouge.
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De Niro will always be a giant figure of 20th century film for me, so it isn't even close. It is an interesting contrast though because Dicaprio seems to always pick interesting projects to put his weight behind, while De Niro has been pretty scattershot for the last twenty years. To be fair, his age means that finding great parts will be difficult, but a lot of his choices seem poor before you even see the film.
If you weigh all of the sizzling takes in this thread, you'll find the actors are closer to one another than apart.
You need to add Mean Streets, The Deer Hunter, Once Upon a Time in America and King of Comedy to that string of great roles in the late 70s and early 80s. That's not even mentioning his lesser, less popular or supporting roles from that time in The Last Tycoon, New York New York, 1900, Midnight Run, Awakenings, Untouchables, Brazil and The Mission. DeNiro's filmography from the mid 70's to mid 90's is amazing.
I think they both offer up something different that affects me different depending on the situation.