De Niro or Di Caprio

Both these muthafuckas be Martin Scorcese's proteges but who is better in his films,and what ones are the best?

 

De Niro.

Although, Di Caprio ain't far behind him to be honest.

 

At their best, they are just about on par.

But just as De Niro's career has waned, especially with his seeming increasingly obsessed with trying to master becoming a comic actor, something that is more cringing than his charcter work, but there is no getting away from something like Dirty Grandpa. Just no.

There was equally a time, starting with Romeo+Juliet and included the likes of Titanic, Man in the Iron Mask and Catch Me If You Can etc, that Leo seemed far more preoccupied with being a movie star than being an actor. That is not to say that they were bad, because he was able to fall back on his charisma more in some of these - even if there is no excusing the laziness of the Man in the Iron Mask, which should have showcased his ability in duel roles and match the efforts of a seriously credentialled cast, but when beside the likes of John Malkovich, Jeremy Irons, Gabriel Burns and Gerard Depardieu it just underscored how lazy he had become at this point.

It took working with Scorcese and Day-Lewis on Gangs of New York that seems to have gotten Leo's head back into being a character actor, it is the landmark that definitely turned his career around. Fame never seemed to really trip up De Niro in the same way, as he went from strength to strength and it wasn't until he had achieved pretty much everything there was to as a character actor that he has let things go somewhat, in his pursuit of trying to master comedy, which isn't really something he is naturally gifted at.

Where I think the difference lies is, just thinking of the 2 actors and looking over their careers, how many of those characters could each have brought to life, and this is where I think that De Niro at his best, has the edge.

I just could not see Leo bring Jake LaMotta, Mikey, Megs or Travis Bickle to life, or take an established character and de-evolve and reconstruct it to the point where it is completely logical to see where one portrayal ends and the other then evolves from, as De Niro did with Vito Corleone. On the flip side of that, apart from Jordon Belfort or Gatsby, is there that many of Leo's character creations that De Niro could not have done equally as impressively well with, at his best?

Obviously age is a completely different thing, and some of Leo's early works show that the talent was always there, in Boy's Life, Basketball Diaries, Gilbert Grape, Total Eclipse etc. And even when he was trading on his charisma more than his ability as an actor following Romeo and Titanic, that still made some of these films enjoyable enough. Between Leo and Spielberg they made Tom Hanks bearable in Catch Me, for instance. Something I didn't think was possible for the longest time.

 

De Niro for me but Di Caprio is brilliant also.

 

That'll be the same Daniel Day-Lewis who did his best Robert De Niro impression throughout that movie...

 

To hard to separate them. Both stared in so many of my favourite movies

 

Haven't seen enough of De Niro. I like Di Caprio but I feel he's overrated.

 

This

 

Di caprio for me. Starred in some of my favourite films like the beach,wolf of wall street and shutter island. However de Niro is fantastic as well.

 

De Niro for me..

Cape Fear is an absolute classic, Casino, Goodfellas and even meet the parent's for a bit of diversity..

Di Caprio is quality as well though . Departed is up there for me and Wolf of Wall Street..

 

De Niro for me.

Though as has been said, Di Caprio is good too, just not quite at the level of De Niro.

 

Di Caprio isn't in the same class as De Niro, not by a long shot. In the space of 10 years De Niro had Godfather II, Taxi Driver, Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, King Of Comedy and Once Upon A Time In America.

 

De Niro is probably my favourite actor but Di Caprio is quality as well.

Obviously it's all the classics that make De Niro what he is but I think he's really funny in Analyse This.

 

Di Caprio I feel is hugely overrated.

 

One day people are going to realise on here that there's a difference between personal taste and being "overrated"

 

De Niro has been in some absolute dug * recently where as Di Caprio seems to strike gold with everything he picks.

Would probably say De Niro is the best when they're both on it but Di Caprio is more consistent.

 

De Niro is the better actor I think, when I think of his roles I think more of the character where as Di Caprio is in a lot of good films - probably more than anyone consistently but for some reason I always think of him as Di Caprio doing a character, he doesn't blend in as much to the person as De Niro.

 

Agree.

Think Di Caprio will surpass him in time. De Niro has a lifetime of films, classics, behind him. Di Caprio is getting there, but time is needed and perhaps one or two more classics.



That said - if we had De Niro in his prime and Di Caprio in his prime - Di Caprio is probably better for more different roles.

 

Couldn't disagree with most of your post Taz.

However, this part I would argue a slight difference. Of all the great characters De Niro has portrayed, they have mostly all came from the same genre and the same sort of characters. Done greatly as one of the best actors of all time. But with Di Caprio I think you can get a wider range of characters from him. Some done better than others, but he is much more adaptable to different roles.