Leonardo DiCaprio On 'The Aviator'

[Monday, January 6th, 2003]
TV Guide Online recently spoke to Leonardo DiCaprio about his role in Martin Scorseses' "The Aviator".

"It seems like I'm going to be immersed in two films that are very much about the world of aviation," DiCaprio told the guide "There are no similarities in the storyline or the structure, but, certainly, [both movies] are about people taking chances that nobody else did at the time."

DiCaprio says that the movie focuses on Hughes's early life. "It's about young Howard Hughes and his triumphs, and then his initial descent into madness," he explains. "It goes right up to him flying the Spruce Goose, or what he liked it to be called, The Hercules." Although the film doesn't begin shooting until May, DiCaprio is already getting himself acquainted with the skies. "I'm going to try and get up there and pilot a plane as research. I'm scared s--tless about it."

"I don't have those phobias," he says. "I know a lot of people in this business that can only take private planes because they're really freaked out about flying, but it's pretty safe when you think about it.

"The only daunting thing," he adds, "is knowing that if you crash, most of the time you're over an ocean and there's nowhere to land. That's the scary thing for me about being up in a plane."

"The Aviator" is expected to hit theaters, December 2004.

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