The Jack Nicholson / Leonardo DiCaprio Comparison Thread

DiCaprio was at the US Open last year in shades, baseball cap and face mask so all you could see was his eyebrows and the shape of his head, and I swear to god I thought it was a young Jack Nicholson.

As a sidenote in light of ibbi 's pic I thought Leo was a Yankee fan. He needs to pick one and only wear that cap.

Nicholson had an impressive 70s but the highlights before and after were sparse. Nicholson's acting was too often schtick-based. He's not remotely as dramatically intense outside of Five Easy Pieces (one of his highlights), and is much less technically-gifted than DiCaprio. Leo's already passed him.

Well, you know that's an opinion some have - maybe more than some - yes..........but Nicholson got 4 Oscar nominations in back to back decades - that's an insane accomplishment - and he literally "could have" been nodded 6 times in his 2nd great decade in movies - I mean he missed for Batman and The Shining in that decade which (deserved or not) could have been easy gimme nods for a guy at his level...........especially Batman probably.

Now Bale and Cooper got 4 nods in the 2010s so we'll see if they can repeat that number but it's amazing from an awards standpoint

One thing that Jack has over Leo is an insane amount of love from the critical bodies. He's won multiple times from LA, NY and National Society. Deserved or not, to win multiple times from these groups is very impressive. Leo has yet to win one from any of the three which I suspect he would at some point. It I can't see him reaching Jack's record.

While Di Caprio likely equaling Jack's record in BP nominations is impressive, one has to keep in mind most of them were in the 10 (or up to 10) BP nominations, while Jack's were all with 5 nominees. And Inception, Django, Wolf and now DLU were all movies that could have missed with only 5 (The Revenant would be a certain one), and even DLU might still, though it's unlikely.

That said, not to take anything away from Leo, Jack is better than him in all aspects- talent, peaks, charisma, filmography, etc, and Di Caprio has much, much less competition for roles because he took basically the tail end of the big movie star era, and he was the star of the biggest movie of all time, though he later managed to (on merits) build on that when not everyone would.

But if Jack wanted a role, he could have in theory to compete with guys like De Niro, Pacino, Hoffman, Beatty, Redford, etc, who were comparable in talent, box office appeal, or both. If Di Caprio wants a role, he gets it, even if someone else would be a better fit.

This is of course in no small part on his own merits, but also due to the fact that the changes in the movie business make sure there will never be someone as big as Di Caprio, even if they are more talented, because franchises and recognizable brands matter more than recognizable names, and Di Caprio established himself just before that era begun. It doesn't matter who Harry Potter or Spider-Man is for their movies to be a hit.

He also got lucky that he managed to become the actor of a choice of a director that incredibly not only managed to continue to be very good even into his 60's and 70's, which is very rare, but actually INCREASED his popularity during that time, which is something no one else ever did.

Again, the box office success of these movies is in no small part because of Di Caprio himself, but the normal trajectory of a director in Scorsese's age would be to see his films bomb or at least disappoint in both quality and box office. Just look at his pal Coppola, or even guys like Hitchcock or Chaplin, but Scorsese was not a big box office draw in his day, but managed to become so in his 60's and 70's, while still making great films.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter. Leo is already in the age range where Nicholson was giving those performances and the only one I can think of off the top of my head from Leo that's in the same ballpark as those Nicholson performances is Wolf of Wall Street. Shit Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest were both before Nicholson hit 40 and Leo is 47 so he's really already past that age range but Wolf of Wall Street was before Leo's 40th

I think we still have to see DiCaprio's adult "dramatic peak", we have obviously seen his comedic peak with the great trifecta of The Wolf of Wall Street, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and Don’t Look Up, a far superior three-peat to Nicholson's comedic work.

But it's too early to judge his work overall and comparing it to Nicholson's peaks (Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, A Few Good Men,etc..).

Even though i don't think he has anything to feel inferior about regarding his own highs (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Basketball Diaries, The Aviator, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Revenant, etc.. just to name a few)

If he goes back to his regular rhythm of a movie every two years, the naysayers will be surprised.

I think unless there's a huge unexpected downfall career wise, he'll beat Nicholson's record by the time reaches Denzel's age (67), and reach new unexpected peaks, the upcoming dramatic projects look certainly incredibly promising and also incredibly challenging just on an acting level (Killers of The Flower Moon, the Jim Jones film, the rumored Roosevelt biopic with Scorsese, The Black Hand, just to name a few).

In other words don't bet against Leo, his unrivaled star power is intact (DLU is the second biggest Netflix movie of all time) and it doesn't seem he'll stop pushing and developing himself as an actor any time soon, we haven't seen his peak yet.

Agree with all of this post tbh ........^

I say this all the time - but some on MAR thinking Denzel will catch - or "exceed" Nicholson - not that he "may" but will do it - is the stupidest thing to me ever on this board.

It's ok, it's just a difference of opinion - I'm not calling them stupid - I'm calling the guess / statement stupid - if Denzel wins this year (possible) they won't keep nodding him......if he doesn't and he wins on his 10th the next time (even more possible) they won't keep noddiing him 3 MORE times after he wins on his 10th..............  People can say BS like "he's lined up a lot of auteurs!" but I'll believe that when I see it and so should you because it contradicts his career pattern .............DiCaprio is different:  he has already shown his career pattern with auteurs with no such upper limit yet...........especially when you factor in all of it - his pace of nods and age and attached work for what's coming.

BUT regardless:

The real interesting thing about DiCaprio is how he equates with Nicholson across ALL awards metrics not just Oscar nods........I mean 5 BAFTA nods with a win at 47 is A LOT, 12 Globe nods is A LOT - he more than competes in every metric  ........ there's very few guys who can rival DiCap for nods and wins. 5 BAFTA nods are what Hanks and De Niro have right now - those guys are in their 60s and 70s  - and they are without any BAFTA wins - 3 Golden Globes is A LOT -  De Niro won just 1 competitive Globe yanno and he's .......um De Niro.......  

It's not about awards - yes, that's true - but also it is not just "about Oscars either"  - the way all awards gravitate around DiCap is .........just fascinating because you can't see his wall across any of them - it is not unreasonable to project him at 20 Globe nods or 10 BAFTA nods.......you just don't see where he tops out.

DLU will be crucial historically - it's not a dealbreaker for projecting where he ends up if he misses..........but it's huge if he gets ................and very "Nicholson-like" if he does get nodded.......

The success in comedy has really expanded DiCap's awards chances too and obviously and that's Nicholson yet again - Nicholson got nods for many roles that were either straight comedy - or heavily included it - Prizzi's Honor, AGAIG, About Schmidt etc ....... 

Happy Birthday to Leo 🍺

On the subject of Nicholson, he had many scenes in Killers of the Flower Moon which reminded me of Jack's work in the 70s. Particularly the police scene with Blackie Thompson.