Leonardo DiCaprio’s role in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood turned out to be far more intense than many expected. The actor stepped into the shoes of Rick Dalton, a fading TV star living in the late 1960s.
While the film showed stylish clothes, old cars and vintage charm, DiCaprio’s experience on set wasn’t too easy. During the shoot, he had to perform a shocking scene that involved using a real flamethrower. Instead of special effects or camera tricks, the moment was filmed with real fire under strict safety rules.
The scene involved some of “the greatest stuntmen of all time through cinema history,” brought together by Tarantino to play Nazi officers. DiCaprio ended up repeating the fiery sequence for several days, which made it one of the most intense parts of his career.
A Role That Pushed Leonardo DiCaprio To His Limits
In Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Rick Dalton uses a flamethrower while acting in a World War II movie called The 14 Fists Of McCluskey, where his character attacks a group of Nazis. After the shoot, he keeps the flamethrower at home. Near the end of the film, members of the Manson family enter his house and cause chaos. Rick then brings out the same weapon and uses it to stop one of them in his swimming pool.
In a conversation with TIME, Leonardo DiCaprio recalled, “I remember taking a real flamethrower and torching down the greatest stuntmen of all time through cinema history. And he brought them all in one room to play Nazis. And I burned them three days in a row.”
Speaking about similarities between Paul Anderson and Quinton Tarantino’s way of working, the actor adds, “Paul brought us to so many different locations (for One Battle After Another) that infused our characters with the reality of the ecosystem around us. Quinton’s the same way. I remember the moment when I drove down Hollywood Boulevard and we turned a corner and we’re in 1969 Hollywood for seven square blocks of, some of the most touristic areas in Los Angeles, being completely transformed to represent the culture of that time. It was just mind-boggling.”
How Leonardo DiCaprio Shot The Flamethrower Scene
During a past interview with The HuffPost, the stunt coordinator from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Robert Alonzo, shared that Leonardo DiCaprio felt nervous about filming the flamethrower scene. Even though the coordinator had many years of experience working with fire, he understood Leo’s fear. DiCaprio did not want to hurt anyone, which made the scene harder for him. To help him, the stunt coordinator first showed him how the scene will work by putting himself in the fire scene.
Usually, a stunt person handles such dangerous moments, but this time DiCaprio had to do it himself. He had to aim real flames at several stunt performers and hold the fire on them for a few seconds. This was tough because he did not know them personally. The stunt coordinator explained that doing something like this can be very stressful on the mind. Still, DiCaprio managed to stay focused and complete the scene, which earned him respect from the crew.
Other than Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood also stars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.
