Bold claim: Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t interested in directing and insists he never will, even after years of collaboration with Martin Scorsese. In a recent appearance at TIME’s A Year in TIME event in Manhattan, DiCaprio reiterated, “I would never want to direct. I could never do anything close to what Martin Scorsese does. Why would I?” This echoes his 2016 remark to Variety, where he said he feels “cursed to probably ever work as a director myself” after working with visionary filmmakers like Scorsese and Alejandro G. Iñárritu on The Revenant.
At the event, TIME crowned DiCaprio as the 2025 Entertainer of the Year, and he shared the stage with Scorsese for a roughly 25-minute dialogue. He conceded that the one real regret in their long-running partnership is that he didn’t spend more time watching Scorsese behind the camera, learning the craft firsthand.
DiCaprio explained that his focus has always been on inhabiting characters and exploring their inner depths as an actor. He reflected that he would have benefited from adopting a more observational stance toward the director’s process.
Meanwhile, DiCaprio and Scorsese are deep into pre-production on their seventh collaboration: an adaptation of the ghost story novel What Happens at Night for Apple Original Films. The project stars DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, with shooting scheduled to begin in February. Until then, DiCaprio remains focused on refining his character work and engaging in constructive debates with Scorsese about storytelling approaches.
The actors-directors’ working relationship is described by DiCaprio as a rigorous, ongoing dialogue—an almost lifelong debate filled with questions and a willingness to challenge obvious choices. He called this collaborative method one of his most profound learning experiences as they develop the new film together.
