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Leonardo DiCaprio had worked with nearly every major director long before he became Martin Scorsese’s go-to actor. He’d done serious turns with Spielberg, stylish ones with Baz Luhrmann, intense drama with Iñárritu, and his two bold outings with Quentin Tarantino.
In Django Unchained, he played one of his rare villain roles, Calvin Candie, who was a cruel and twisted plantation owner. And years later, he returned to Tarantino’s world in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to play Rick Dalton, an aging TV actor trying to stay relevant as the world changed around him.
Playing Rick Dalton Wasn’t as Fun as It Looked
The movie captured the late ’60s in all its style, starting from wild clothes and bright cars to loud music. But for DiCaprio, playing Dalton wasn’t all smooth sailing. The character may have been fictional, but there was one very real thing that tested his patience on set, and that was a fake moustache.
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The Fake Moustache That Made Leonardo DiCaprio Lose His Cool
The fake moustache became a nightmare for DiCaprio. It wasn’t some small glued-on patch; it was a thick and wiry strip that constantly ended up in his mouth. Besides, DiCaprio’s filming the scenes under the hot sun made it even worse. It kept sticking to his lips or getting chewed up every time he spoke, and spitting it out became a routine.
The actor’s discomfort reached to such an extent that his on-screen meltdown mirrored what was happening behind the scenes.
According to Far Out Magazine, makeup artist Siân Grigg, who had worked with DiCaprio for years, including on The Revenant, was the one responsible for the look. She’d made it authentic for a 1970s-style western being shot within the film’s plot, but that attention to period detail came at a cost.
She said, “We were copying the style of films shot in that period and also covering Leo’s character up to look different and unrecognisable, which in the movie he’s not used to.”
Why DiCaprio’s Role Became Personally Frustrating
What made things even more irritating was that the look was intentionally exaggerated. The film wanted Rick Dalton to seem out of place and nearly unrecognisable in his cowboy get-up. So the moustache was just meant to mask him. And for someone like DiCaprio, who takes pride in his roles and presence on screen, the fake fuzz became a problem he couldn’t ignore.
For more such stories, check out Hollywood News
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