Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the biggest movie stars in the world, but even he couldn’t help but admire the ‘astoundingly talented’ Amitabh Bachchan. The two worked together in 2013’s The Great Gatsby, in which Amitabh made his Hollywood debut as the Jewish gangster Meyer Wolfsheim.
Ahead of the film’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, DiCaprio, who celebrates his 46th birthday on Wednesday, also revealed that he’d had conversations about Indian cinema with Amitabh.
“He couldn’t be a more gentle, wonderful individual to work with,” he told NDTV. “And astoundingly talented. To come and play Meyer Wolfsheim in this movie and embody that roughness and a mystery, everything that comes out of his mouth is filled with so much more and so much presence. And then you see the camera cut and he’s the perfect gentleman, just a joy to be around and a wonderful collaborator. He’s a magnificent actor and I was honoured to work with him.”
He added, “The truth is I haven’t watched a lot of Indian films in my life but we did talk about them at great length and we always had interesting stories to tell about how we started off as actors and what it was like for him. I can’t say enough wonderful things about my experience working with him.”
Meanwhile, Amitabh recalled the momentous Cannes premiere in a 2017 social media post. Sharing a picture with Leo, he wrote, “The Great Gatsby premiere at Cannes and with the star Leonardo DiCaprio at the red carpet and then on stage. Me giving introduction speech in Hindi. 100 years of Indian Cinema. He is the most humble and down to earth co-star.”
The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Lurhmann, also starred Tobey Maguire, Carrie Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Isla Fisher and others. The film, produced on a budget of $105 million, made over $350 million worldwide. It won two Oscars — for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.