In the early days of his career, Leonardo DiCaprio was a heartthrob — a beautiful young man with blonde locks and a devilish grin. Now, as he approaches 50, DiCaprio has become something else. He’s still a handsome man, of course, but his looks have hardened, his once smooth, blemish-free face has taken on character. And his acting work reflects that change. With his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, DiCaprio has blossomed into a brilliant actor, one unafraid to play unlikable, challenging characters. With “Killers of the Flower Moon,” DiCaprio has delivered his most unlikable character to date — the sniveling, greedy dunce Ernest Burkhart, a murderer who is easily manipulated into poisoning his own wife all in the name of money. It’s one of DiCaprio’s very best performances — but that didn’t seem to interest the Academy, who did not award him a Best Actor nom.
To be clear: Leo will be fine. He’s a rich, famous guy who dates young supermodels, and he’s already got an Oscar (for “The Revenant,” although I think we can all agree the film he should have won Best Actor for was Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street”). Still, it would’ve been nice to see his work here recognized. All the more so for the fact that Ernest Burkhart was not the part DiCaprio was initially going to play. Instead, the actor was set to portray Tom White, the lawman played in the film by Jesse Plemons. However, DiCaprio reportedly had more interest in the morally dubious Ernest, and his change of character threw the entire production into upheaval — Paramount allegedly balked at backing the film with DiCaprio playing such an unlikable character, and Apple came in to help foot the costs. DiCaprio plays Ernest as a fool — but his foolishness doesn’t let him off the hook. Yes, he’s dim, but he could easily stand up for himself and his wife if he just took the initiative. Instead, his greed overwhelms him. He loves money, so much so that he’s willing to harm his own wife. It’s a despicable character, and we have no sympathy for him. It’s risky for an actor to play such a part, but DiCaprio sank his teeth into the role, and the Academy should’ve recognized that. (Chris Evangelista)