Leonardo DiCaprio was always destined to be more than a Hollywood pretty boy

With ‘Titanic’ being re-released next month in celebration of its 25th anniversary, the film that turned DiCaprio into a star, Geoffrey Macnab looks at how its male lead defied the odds and turned himself into a full-blown Hollywood heavyweight

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in 'Titanic’ in 1997 (Shutterstock)

It’s 25 years now since the high point of “Leomania”. It was that heady period when actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s followers mobbed him with a fervour that put the behaviour of even the most diehard Beatles fans to shame. At least with the Fab Four, the hysteria was spread around the band. With DiCaprio, it all centred on him. You can still see the footage on YouTube: crowds of teenagers outside London’s Odeon, Leicester Square, shrieking out “Leo, Leo, Leo” before the UK premiere of James Cameron’s Titanic – the hit 1997 film is being re-released next month . He landed the role at 20 years old. But with his epicene good looks, he seemed far younger. He cut a diffident figure on the red carpet, waving politely at the onlookers, seemingly not realising that he was about to be skyrocketed to worldwide stardom.

News reports claimed that “hormonally-charged” adolescent girls had camped out for 12 hours or more just to catch a glimpse of him. If DiCaprio caused mayhem at Titantic’s premiere in London, he left downright havoc in his wake when the film reached Tokyo. “The streets looked as if Godzilla was running amok,” one US news station reported of the stampedes.

What was next? Would success spoil DiCaprio? How would his career evolve when his face was already plastered on walls the world over? These were questions worrying even his admirers.