For The Revenant, he ate real bison liver: Leonardo DiCaprio often chooses roles that challenge him physically and mentally. In the action thriller The Man Who Never Lived, directed by master Ridley Scott (Gladiator), however, one scene was so demanding and brutal that he collapsed afterwards.
Leonardo DiCaprio collapsed after torture scene in The Man Who Never Lived
The intensity of Ridley Scott’s thriller can already be seen in the premise: DiCaprio plays CIA agent Roger Ferris, who is hunting the terrorist Al-Saleem (Alon Abutbul) in the Middle East puts his life in danger every day. Not only his fanatical opponents or the ice-cold secret service chief Hani Salaam (Mark Strong) are threatening, but also Ferris’ unscrupulous boss Hoffman (Russell Crowe).
Warner Bros.
Everything was still relaxed: DiCaprio in The Man Who Never Lived
The Man Who Never Lived is a breathless chase between the fronts of good and evil, friend and foe: the constant danger and uncertainty for Ferris is physically palpable. But the collapse scene in question was so intense that it physically destroyed DiCaprio himself.
This is what happens in the brutal scene with Leonardo DiCaprio (warning, spoiler!): This refers to a torture scene towards the end of the film. Ferris is caught, brutally tortured with a hammer and is finally killed in front of the camera like in a propaganda video. It is an extremely physically demanding scene. DiCaprio writhes, whines and screams.
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The palpable oppression and brutality of the scene was no coincidence. DiCaprio explained to the Guardian in 2008:
I had a problem with the scene. […] It was all or nothing. The film would not have worked without this scene. We had to […] controversial. I had the CIA explain to me how my character would behave. It was so important that I almost had a breakdown at the end. A lot of what you see in the film is at my absolute pain threshold. I collapsed shortly afterward. I got sick because it was so intense.
The staging of the scene supports DiCaprio’s acting: It is reminiscent of the Horror images of beheadings and mock executions, which were familiar to many viewers, especially in connection with the Iraq conflict of the 2000s. The actor and director’s aim was clearly to create a tangible trauma that would ultimately break the character of Ferris. And the actor almost felt the same way.
When you see scenes like this, you wish DiCaprio would occasionally retreat to the Caribbean or a nice early evening TV series. Something harmless, with cocktails and Colgate smiles. But then it might be a bit boring in the cinema and on TV.