CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

GANGS OF NEW YORK

DiCaprio’s Back In Two Hollywood Holiday Blockbusters

One of the more irritating trends in Hollywood for the past few years has been the sudden glut of good movies at the end of the year. Like we don’t have enough to do during that time of year with all the traveling and Christmas and New Year’s parties!

The reason for the trend is that movies have to have their theatrical release by the end of the calendar year to be eligible for Academy Award consideration in the spring. The theory goes that the later you release a movie, the fresher it will be in the minds of Academy voters. So serious movie lovers have to slog through mindless kiddie and teen fare for much of the year while waiting on the adult flicks that will eventually pile up like Christmas gifts at the end of December.

This year that patience is being rewarded with a number of new movies featuring big name actors and directors such as Jack Nicholson, Tom Hanks, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. One actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, will star in two of the biggest films of the year, Scorsese’s Gangs of New York (Dec. 20) and Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can. DiCaprio is best known for his Oscar-nominated performance in Titanic, one of the top ten grossing films of all time. Still in his 20s, DiCaprio has already starred in some truly original films such as What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, This Boy’s Life and The Basketball Diaries. Now he goes toe-to-toe with Academy Award winners Tom Hanks and Daniel Day-Lewis in a pair of period pieces about the 60s—the 1860s and the 1960s, that is.

Gangs of New York

While the rest of the country was embroiled in the Civil War, 1860s New York had its own battles brewing. Immigrants from Europe were literally pouring into the city, joining the fight for jobs, housing and dignity. After being separated by national borders for centuries, Irish, Germans, Italians and other ethnic groups found themselves living side by side in cramped quarters in our young country’s most populous urban area…an area still without electricity or much running water.

Director Scorsese’s new film, Gangs of New York, depicts our country during one of its most painful and important historical periods. The film stars DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz and looks to be one of the best historical pieces in recent memory.

“Ever since I was a child growing up in Lower Manhattan, I was drawn to the stories of Old New York,” said Scorsese. “Each day, as I explored the neighborhood streets, I slowly uncovered clues to an extraordinary but relatively unknown period in the City’s and our country’s history. The 1860s seemed to overflow with unbelievable stories of the working classes; the waves of immigrants who crowded the streets and alleyways; of the corrupt politicians; and of the legends of the underworld who fought to control it all. They are the stories of the testing of America and what the young country stood for. They are the stories of our roots.”

Catch Me If You Can

Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can is another film based on American history—this one a more recent chapter. This time out DiCaprio stars as Frank Abagnale, a real life scam artist who passed himself off as an airline pilot, lawyer, doctor, and college professor, all while cashing millions of dollars in fraudulent checks during the 1960s.

“It begins with my parents’ divorce and its dramatic effect on me,” said Abagnale. “I ran away and suddenly found myself a teenager alone in the world. I had to grow up very quickly and become very creative in order to survive. But what started out as survival became more and more of a game. I was an opportunist, so when I saw an opening I asked myself, ‘Could I get away with that?’ Then there was the satisfaction of actually getting away with it. The more I got away with, the more of a game it became—a game I knew I would ultimately lose, but a game I was going to have fun playing until I did.”

In addition to DiCaprio, the film stars a virtual cornucopia of Hollywood star power. Tom Hanks plays FBI agent Carl Hanratty, Christopher Walken plays Frank Abagnale, Sr. and Martin Sheen plays Roger Strong.

Instead of relying on the overly used and abused pop music of the 1960s, the soundtrack of the movie utilizes new music by composer John Williams based on progressive jazz of the era and Henry Mancini-style soundtracks.

“He typified the best of that stylish, jazzy approach to films that we now associate with that period so nostalgically,” said Williams of Mancini. “I was actually the pianist in Henry Mancini’s orchestra at the beginning of both our careers. I played on the Peter Gunn recordings and on Breakfast at Tiffany’s and was very close to him personally, as well as musically. Catch Me If You Can has been a wonderful opportunity for me to revisit that part of myself that’s been lying dormant for a few decades now.”

For the director it was a chance to revisit the era of his youth. “It was a time of tremendous trust, when you never locked your doors, but felt safe,” said Speilberg. “I had just finished shooting Minority Report and was in something of a dark place. I thought this would be a breath of fresh air for me. I enjoy that whiplash sensation of going from a film like Jurassic Park to a Schindler’s List, and now from Minority Report to Catch Me If You Can.”

Spielberg also stated that he enjoyed the opportunity of working with DiCaprio. “I have been a huge fan of Leo’s, dating back to his work in This Boy’s Life and then What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, which was a phenomenal performance,” said Spielberg. “Leo is a very inventive actor and has a lot of ideas. He is also his own best critic. There were times I’d accept a certain take, and Leo would say, ‘No, no. I think there’s something I haven’t found yet; let me do it again.’ And he would invariably come up with something that was just brilliant.”