Actors have changed their names for decades, mainly at the insistence of their agents or the studio. This could be because another actor already has that name or, in the case of Leonardo DiCaprio, his name was… too ethnic.
While chatting with Benicio del Toro on the New Heights podcast, DiCaprio said his first agent was adamant about changing his now-iconic name.
“I finally got an agent and they said: ‘Your name is too ethnic,’ I go, ‘What do you mean?’ They go, ‘No, too ethnic. They’re never going to hire you. Your new name is Lenny Williams,’” he said. “‘What’s Lenny Williams?’ ‘We took your middle name and made it your last name and now [your first] name is Lenny.’ And my dad saw [the headshot photo the agent took], he ripped it up, and said, ‘Over my dead body.’“
It’s hard to imagine what could have been had that agent gotten their way. Titanic starring Kate Winslet and Lenny Williams. Del Toro hinted that he had received similar advice early on, pointing at himself and saying, “Benny Del.“
DiCaprio and del Toro will soon be seen starring in Paul Thomas Anderson‘s One Battle After Another. The film, which is said to be loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, stars DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson, an ex-revolutionary who sets out to rescue his daughter when an evil enemy resurfaces years later. In addition to DiCaprio and del Toro, One Battle After Another also stars Sean Penn, Regina Hall, Tayana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, Wood Harris, and Alana Haim.
The first reviews have been positively glowing. Many have called it Anderson’s most entertaining film and one of the best films of the decade. We’ll soon be able to find out for ourselves, as the film is set to hit theaters on September 26.
DiCaprio’s next project will once again see him reuniting with Martin Scorsese. He’s set to star alongside Jennifer Lawrence in a project based on Peter Cameron’s What Happens At Night, a spooky tale of an American couple who travel to a small European town to adopt a baby, but all is not as it seems.
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