DiCaprio v DiCaprio: release of rival films heralds box-office battle

Two of Hollywood's biggest directors are competing to secure the promotional services of one of Tinseltown's hottest actors, who stars in their latest movies. Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg amazed the film industry by defying convention and opening rival films with the same leading man within days of each other.

Leonardo DiCaprio will have the awkward task of trying to make a forced mention of "the other film" when he is interviewed to publicise either Scorsese's Gangs of New York or Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can this month.

The near-simultaneous release of the latest works from two of the film world's heavyweights, both here and in America, has provoked a combination of amusement and consternation in the industry, because the box-office success of both films depends to a large extent on the availability of DiCaprio for promotional work.

Normally the main studios – in this case Spielberg's company, DreamWorks, and Harvey Weinstein's Miramax – try to avoid opening two movies with the same star at the same time.

Both films opened in America last month, so they qualify for the 2002 Oscar nominations. Gangs, which opens here on 10 January, was to be released a year ago, but much-publicised problems between Scorsese and Weinstein slowed the film's completion and put it on a collision course with Spielberg, whose comedy thriller opens here on 31 January.

Scorsese's publicist, Lois Smith, said: "It would be nice if there was a little space between the films. But I remember when Bob Redford had three movies coming out at the same time. Everybody thought it was going to be a disaster, but they ended up helping each other."

Ian Freer, associate editor of the film magazine Empire, said: "It is a very odd thing for them both to come out so close together. There was some tension between the Spielberg and Scorsese camps; but the two men are old friends and have obviously reached an accommodation. They were both going to open in the States on Christmas Day; but now they are opening two weeks apart. They will try to get marketing to benefit both films. Leo will do a lot of interviews; and he will try to mention both films."

In Catch Me If You Can, DiCaprio stars as the real-life charmer and conman Frank Abagnale who became one of America's most-wanted fraudsters after forging cheques worth millions of dollars and passing himself off as a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer, all before his 21st birthday. Abagnale was hunted down by an FBI agent, played by Tom Hanks, but after serving part of his sentence was released into FBI custody and now makes millions advising huge corporations on how to avoid fraud. DiCaprio was nominated for best actor at the Golden Globes for Catch Me, but not for Gangs.

In Gangs, DiCaprio plays an Irish hoodlum in the 1860s. The film traces the violent foundations of the city and the rivalry between the native and immigrant gangs and is a less sure prospect than its rival. Industry insiders feel the history lesson might not appeal to DiCaprio fans, who could opt for the lighter Spielberg fare.

The shape of things to come, Review, page 11