Leonardo DiCaprio “actually played the better role in The Departed, if you ask the Bagger, but he’s nominated for lead actor in Blood Diamond. If there is confusion, so what? A vote for Leo is a vote for Leo.” — N.Y. Times Oscar guy David Carr in a 2.7.07 entry.
Except a vote for Leo in Blood Diamond is not just a vote for Leo — it’s also a secondary pat-on-the-back for the chops and visions of Diamond director Ed Zwick, and that’s a problem. Leo didn’t just play a better role in The Departed — his emotional ferocity levels were such in that film that all kinds of wild-ass light seeped into his hunted-animal performance. It was way, way beyond what he managed to do in Zwick’s film.
