Cosmopolitan UK - 09.2019

20 ·^ COSMOPOLITAN

WORDS WILLIAM FOXTON. PHOTOGRAPHS MOVIESTILLSDB.COM, GETTY IMAGES, LANDMARK MEDIA

THE BIG-SCREEN EVOLUTION OF

From ’90s poster boy to Oscar-winning actor... we cha

the rise and rise of the unsinkable Leo’s movie career

1995

1996

2006 1998

2013 2015

THE BASKETBALL DIARIES

Girls wanted to save him,

boys wanted the number

of his hairstylist. Leo’s turn

as a high-school basketball

star put him firmly on

Hollywood’s radar.

ROMEO + JULIET

One glance through a tropical fish

tank and we were sold. The angst,

the baby-face,

the music,

the epic

Hawaiian

shirts before

they went

mass in C&A.

This was

the peak of

Leo-mania.

THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK

If you could turn a blind eye

to the mullet, Leo acted his

breeches off in two different

roles. We were still obsessed

with Jack

Dawson,

but he was

already

moving

on.

THE DEPARTED

Scorsese! Nicholson! Also

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Leo did a top job of exposing the excess

and hedonism of the financial world. This

September an immersive theatre

production hits

London, so it’s

still successfully

sparking

spin-offs.

art

TITANIC

Who didn’t want Jack

Dawson to draw them like

one of his French girls?

In 2019 Leo is one of

the world’s most high-

profile climate-change

campaigners but, in 1997,

he had a lot to thank

that iceberg for.

1997

2000

THE BEACH

What everyone

DJANGO UNCHAINE

He joined Tarantino

and whipped out

acting skills so

impressive we actu

hated him by the e

2012

THE GREAT GATSBY

Baz Luhrmann worked his magic

to recreate all the glitz

2013

THE REVENANT

The Oscar finally

arrived. Leo

faced Tom Hardy

in a cinematic

brood-off and

used his best

lip-chapped

drama skills to

win us over. The

beard alone was

worth the award.

Scorsese!Nicholson! Also,

Mark Wahlberg! This was

the moment Leorubbed

shoulders withthe

bigboys and

more than

heldhis own,

earning

Hollywood-

heavyweight

stripes.

Whateveryone

thought their gap

year would be like

(minus sharkattacks

and druglords). We

all booked trips to

Thailand,listened

to AllSaints’Pure

Shoresand returned

with dodgy tattoos.

ED

o

ually

end.

torecreateallthe glitz

and glamour ofthe

roaring ’20s. Let’s

raise a glass to

Leo, who isnow

a meme for all

seasons.