DiCaprio Gets Lifetime Achievement Award
WTF? You make a bunch of films, most of them forgettable, and you get a “lifetime achievement award” at the ripe old age of 30? What lifetime? And what achievements? Did I oversleep and miss DiCaprio inventing a cure for cancer? Did I unknowingly turn my back while he came up with a sure-fire way to feed the world’s hungry? Was I in the bathroom with the New York Times when he put an end to war and pestilence?
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - On the heels of an Oscar nomination, “The Aviator” star Leonardo DiCaprio wrapped a high-flying week by accepting the Platinum Award from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
The award, created to commemorate the festival’s 20th anniversary, was given Sunday night in recognition of the actor’s “exceptional career,” festival director Roger Durling said….
“It’s a lifetime achievement award, which is completely and utterly surreal, given I’m only 30 years old,” he continued, with a laugh. “But, you know, what has it been? Almost 17 years now. I’ve done quite a few films. But what’s really exciting, for me, is that this is what I really love doing. It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
OK, so who’s next? Juan Carlos Chera? Dakota Fanning? Linsay Lohan? Ashley and Mary Kate Olsen? No, I’m not going to denigrate DiCaprio, who is by all accounts a talented and accomplished actor (albeit one who has some difficulty in choosing vehicles that properly showcase that talent). I find myself wondering, though, how anyone can be feted for a “lifetime” of “achievements” at the age of 30?
Of course, if DiCaprio had discovered a cure for cancer or HIV/AIDS, or had created a means to end world hunger, I would be first in line to applaud his myriad significant achievements. DiCaprio is, however, an entertainer. It’s an honorable- and for some, lucrative- profession, but does it do anything to make the world a better place? Not hardly.
Perhaps at some point in his life and career, DiCaprio will have amassed a body of work that puts him on a par with a Sir Laurence Olivier or John Gielgud. Perhaps. That’s a long ways down the road, though, and with some luck and a lot of hard work perhaps DiCaprio will be blessed to reach that point. He’s not there at the age of 30. Few among us could be.
