Leonardo DiCaprio Says He Feels 32 Despite Being 50, Shares Biggest Regret

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, but he rarely pulls back the curtain on his innermost thoughts — until now.

The Oscar winner, 50, got real about his age, regrets and whether he watches his own projects in an exclusive interview with his One Battle After Another writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson for Esquire.

When asked to “answer as quickly as you can” if you “didn’t know how old you are, how old are you right now?” DiCaprio responded, “32.” (DiCaprio was 32 years old in the early 2000s.)

“Here’s a question Esquire wants me to ask,” Anderson, 55, told DiCaprio in the interview, published on Wednesday, August 13. “‘You turned 50 last year. Does it feel like a natural time for reflection?’”

DiCaprio quipped, “You turned emotionally 35 last year,” hinting once again that he doesn’t feel like he’s nearing 51.

Anderson joked, “Your age is 50, but your emotional maturity is 32,” before asking, “How does that feel?”

The director then clarified that the magazine wanted to know if being in your 50s was a “natural time for reflection” and a marker for one’s own evolution for the star.

“Well, it creates a feeling like you have a desire to just be more honest and not waste your time,” DiCaprio explained. “I can only imagine how the next few decades are going to progress. I look at my mother, for example, and she just says exactly what she thinks and wastes no time. She spends no time trying to fake it.”

The Wolf of Wall Street actor noted that as you get older, your perspective does seem to shift.

“Being more upfront and risking having things fall apart or risk the disagreements or risk going your separate ways from any type of relationship in life — the personal, professional — it’s that you just don’t want to waste your time anymore,” DiCaprio continued. “You have to just be much more upfront. It’s almost a responsibility because much more of your life is behind you than it is ahead of you.”

Looking back at his own time on earth — and as an actor in particular — DiCaprio shared his professional regret with Anderson.

“I’ll say it even though you’re here: My biggest regret is not doing Boogie Nights. It was a profound movie of my generation,” DiCaprio confessed, referring to Anderson’s 1997 hit. “I can’t imagine anyone but Mark [Wahlberg] in it. When I finally got to see that movie, I just thought it was a masterpiece. It’s ironic that you’re the person asking that question, but it’s true.”

While DiCaprio revealed he was late to the party on Boogie Nights, when it comes to his own portfolio of films he doesn’t dwell on the content.

“I rarely watch any of my films, but if I’m being honest, there’s one that I have watched more than others. It’s The Aviator,” he revealed. “That’s simply because it was such a special moment to me. I had worked with Marty [Scorsese] on Gangs of New York, and I’d been toting around a book on Howard Hughes for 10 years.”

DiCaprio recalled, “I almost did it with Michael Mann, but there was a conflict, and I ended up bringing it to Marty. I was 30. It was the first time as an actor I got to feel implicitly part of the production, rather than just an actor hired to play a role.”

He gushed about the experience, adding, “I felt responsible in a whole new way. I’ve always felt proud and connected to that film as such a key part of my growing up in this industry and taking on a role of a real collaborator for the first time.”