5 Overlooked Leonardo DiCaprio Movies You Haven't Even Heard of
For his unfathomable global fame, Leonardo DiCaprio still has too many underrated and unknown movies. Let’s fix it starting with these five hidden gems we’ve found!
5. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Despite DiCaprio’s first Oscar nomination coming from this movie, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape largely went under everyone’s radar. And it’s not just young Leonardo DiCaprio we’re talking about here — the movie also has young Johnny Depp, making it the ultimate must-watch for the true 1990s cinema connoisseurs!
But what is eating Gilbert Grape? You see, he lives in a tiny town, works in a shop, and has to take care of his ill mother and mentally disabled brother. His life is boring, but when a pretty young lady comes around, he wants to chase his own happiness.
4. This Boy’s Life (1993)
Another great early collaboration for young DiCaprio, This Boy’s Life saw him work alongside Robert De Niro — something that allegedly won’t happen again after the two actors’ feud on Killers of the Flower Moon. But back then, everything was still fine between the two, and they made an amazing drama movie together.
Leo DiCaprio’s on-screen mother travels across the States with him after her husband leaves the family, but just when she thinks she found a good and noble man to take care of her and her son, the new hubby turns out to be a terrifying tyrant.
3. The Basketball Diaries (1995)
Throughout Leonardo DiCaprio’s fruitful career, we’ve gotten used to watching him embrace on-screen success in many forms. But even DiCaprio hasn’t always portrayed winners, and The Basketball Diaries — one of the actor’s most disturbing works — is a brilliant example of that. Want to see DiCaprio destroy his career?
In this 1995 movie, the actor portrays a young basketball prodigy with high hopes for having it all. But his passion for the sport and the bright future ahead face a hard reality when the star player gets caught up in his increasing drug addiction.
2. The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Actually, how about Leonardo DiCaprio not even being the main character anymore? Sure, we’ve grown used to seeing the actor’s face for the majority of the screen time, but in The Quick and the Dead, we’ll have a change of pace. DiCaprio takes a backseat in this movie and lets the adults (Leo is still young here) do most of the job.
The Quick and the Dead follows a mysterious female gunslinger who appears in a frontier town to join the dueling competition held there. No one knows who she is, but she has a clear goal: avenging her father. Don’t piss Sharon Stone off is the lesson.
1. Marvin’s Room (1996)
Somehow, almost every time Leonardo DiCaprio played a teenager, he was a prodigy, no matter what kind. He’s either fooling the FBI, building a promising career, or just breaking girls’ hearts left, right, and center. But what if he was just your typical rebellious teenager who had trouble working things out with his weird family?
In Marvin’s Room, we watch DiCaprio struggle with his relationship with his mother — a fiercely independent and egocentric woman who left the family seventeen years ago. As they return, this duo of angry people will learn the importance of family.