Obsessed with Hollywood

Leonardo DiCaprio arrived in Japan this morning with fans waiting to say hello at Tokyo's Narita airport. The actor flashed a smile and waved, and he has good reason to be so chipper after his Inception had a great run at the weekend box office — his Christopher Nolan thriller was number one with $60.4 million, which ranked as the biggest opening of Leo's long career! Leo's press tour for the film now has him in Asia, following premieres in Paris, London, and LA. He's come a long way since his stint on Growing Pains, and Leo's Summer blockbuster is the latest in his long line of hot roles.

"You periodically felt like you were a part of something truly insane, but it was all in a day's work," Leonardo DiCaprio told me during a junket for the movie "Inception." Even if that day's work includes shooting on a mountain in the middle of a blizzard.
Based on an original script by director Christopher Nolan, "Inception" is a film that defies easy sound-bite descriptions. Its Russian nesting doll-like structure of a dream enclosed within a dream enclosed within another dream virtually demands multiple viewings. Think Philip K. Dick meets "The Italian Job."
Nolan's previous silver screen venture was a little movie called "The Dark Knight" -- the highest grossing non-James Cameron movie in American history. So for this go-around, the director's vast, ambitious vision seems to have been utterly unfettered by financial constraints. And it shows.
"Inception" was shot in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Morocco, London, Paris and the Canadian Rockies. It features shots of the French capital folding in on itself M.C. Escher-style, a zero-G fist fight, and a freight train blasting through the streets of downtown Los Angeles.
And in one sequence, Leo and the gang stage a raid on a snow-bound Alpine fortress -- the aforementioned shoot in the blizzard.
Leo describes an exchange he had with an assistant director during production. "When we started shooting one of the ADs said, 'Before you get to lunch we want to do some of the avalanche shots.' 'OK, how is that going to happen?' 'We're going to blow up a couple mountains and we're going to start a couple of avalanches and you're going to get in there and be a part of it and then we'll take you to lunch.' And this is kind of what you expect on a Chris Nolan set."
Co-star Ellen Page agreed. "It was definitely the most extreme environment I've ever filmed in."
And if you thought that cast worked hard, try the production crew. That fortress had to be constructed out of wood and plaster -- carried straight up the mountain -- without the use of normal construction equipment. It was so cold up there that paint froze on the brush.
For a summer movie season that has proved to be easily the lamest in recent memory, filled with tepid adaptations and tired '80s retreads, Christopher Nolan's brand of cinematic insanity might just be what the doctor ordered. "Inception" opens this weekend.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp do and do not have a lot in common. Dedicated actors who happen to be megastars, they gave memorable performances playing brothers in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993, pictured). DiCaprio even played Depp, sort of, in Woody Allen's "Celebrity" (1998), as a heartthrob movie star with a penchant for trasing hotel rooms and fighting with his girlfriend.

Here's a compare-and-contrast look at two compelling careers.

STARTED IN TV


Johnny Depp appeared on the 1987 series "21 Jump Street" (pictured) while Leonardo DiCaprio got his start on shows like "Parenthood" and "Growing Pains."

GO-TO DIRECTOR


Leonardo DiCaprio has worked with Martin Scorsese (left) four times while Johnny Depp has teamed up with Tim Burton (right) seven.

OSCAR NOMINATIONS/WINS



Both Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp have received three Oscar nominations apiece, though neither actor has ever won.

FAVORITE SHIP

Leonardo DiCaprio played Kate Winslet's doomed love interest Jack in "Titanic" (left) while Johnny Depp was aboard the Black Pearl as Captain Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

WESTERNS



Leonardo DiCaprio played the Kid in Sam Raimi's 1995 film "The Quick and the Dead" while Johnny Depp played William Blake in "Dead Man."

TOM BRADY CONNECTION

Leonardo DiCaprio once dated Tom Brady's wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen (pictured). Johnny Depp, on the other hand, appeared as the title role in "Edward Scissorhands" — wide receiver?

NOTABLE ACCENTS



Leonardo DiCaprio: Irish, South African, South Bostonian (sort of)

Johnny Depp: Spanish, Scottish, Keith Richards-ish

Pictured: Leonardo DiCaprio tried his hand at a South Boston accent in the 2006 movie "The Departed."

FOLLICULARLY CHALLENGED FACIALLY


Yes, for both.

SUNG ONSCREEN



Though it's a "No" for Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp has flexed his singing chops in films such as "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."

SHAKESPEARE ONSCREEN


Though it's a "No" for Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio starred as Romeo in Baz Luhrman's 1996 reimagining of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."

REAL-LIFE CHARACTERS PLAYED


Leonardo DiCaprio: Arthur Rimbaud, Jim Carroll, Louis XIV, Howard Hughes, J.Edgar Hoover (forthcoming)

Johnny Depp: Ed Wood, Joe Pistone (Donnie Brasco), J.M. Barrie, the Ear of Rochester, John Dillinger

Pictured: Johnny Depp in "Donnie Brasco."

FAMOUS MOVIE HARDLY ANYONE KNOWS HE WAS IN



There really aren't any for Leonardo DiCaprio, but for Johnny Depp it's the 1986 film "Platoon," which also starred Charlie Sheen (pictured).

MOST SURPRISING ON-SCREEN LOVE INTEREST



Leonardo DiCaprio: Sharon Stone in "The Quick and the Dead" (left).

Johnny Depp: Rupert Friend in "The Libertine."


NUMBER OF PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT ON IMDB.COM



Leonardo DiCaprio has a whopping 21 in-development projects listed while Johnny Depp has 14.