ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:Being Charlieis about an 18-year-old (Nick Robinson) struggling with addiction and rehab.
Is there overlap between that and the coming of age story you told inStand by Me.
And the character is a little bit older.
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It was also co-written by your son Nick.
The character is 18 inBeing Charlie.
Well, obviously you also know that Gordie [Wil Wheaton] grows up and becomes a successful writer.
This was an interesting thing that Stephen King did in the novellaThe Body, whichStand by Meis based on.
If you read it, you know that all three of his friends die except Gordie.
But I just felt that was too hard, so I had just the one character die, Chris.
[Touches his hand to his heart] I mean, its just so sad and spooky.
Do you still remember the moment when you heard that he died?
It shocked the hell out of me.
I knew he wasnt living in the best place.
Its kind of amazing to just speculate about what his career would have been.
He was a brilliant, brilliant young actor.
He was like a James Dean.
Well, heres whats interesting.
And I think he was about 18 or 19 when he did those.
I saw those two performances, and I said, Its unbelievable, the talent that this kid has.
And then I thought about River.
I thought a lot about River and how upset I was that he was gone.
And when I was doingThe Wolf of Wall Street, I had this very conversation with DiCaprio.
And he told me about the good relationship he had with his mother.
A very candid thing for you to say.
Well, I mean, you know hes a terrific guy.
I mean hes a really good guy.
You know, youre sitting around on the set and you just start talking.
He likes to talk.
Very generous, fun to work with, and boy, is he talented.
What I was stunned by inThe Wolf of Wall Streetis how funny he is in it.
This is brilliant physical comedy, you know.
What was Martin Scorsese like to work with?
Hes a film nerd of all film nerds.
And you could improvise anything on his set.
He has his vision, but hes so generous.
But was there ever a time when you went too far with an improvisation?
[laughs] Yeah.
Theres a scene between Jon Favreau and Leo and myself.
Favreau lays out the whole plea deal thing, when Leos character is going to jail.
And I said, What do you have to think about?
Youve got the great life here.
You got your beautiful wife, your daughter and all.
And Leo says, I hear you.
You actually said that?
Maybe it was a little bit too meta.
Scorsese laughed but it was too much.
He couldnt put it in the film, but I just thought it was kinda funny.
