Leonardo DiCaprio, long known for his environmental advocacy, is facing renewed criticism after attending billionaire Jeff Bezos’ lavish three-day wedding celebration in Venice, Italy, on June 27. The event, which reportedly drew dozens of private jets, has prompted many to question the actor’s commitment to the green causes he frequently champions.
Just days after the wedding, DiCaprio took to Instagram on June 30 to celebrate the conservation of Guafo Island in Chile, praising its transition into a protected area. According to the post, the privately-owned island was recently secured to prevent deforestation, coal mining, and other environmentally damaging activities. DiCaprio highlighted its role in preserving biodiversity and maintaining global ecological health.
The post was met with skepticism online, where users were quick to call out what they see as a disconnect between the actor’s words and actions. “Leo’s a great actor, but I’ve never believed anything he says about the environment,” one commenter wrote. Another added, “He wants us to think he’s living sustainably while jetting around the world on private planes and yachts. Leonardo DiCaprio is the definition of a hypocrite.”
DiCaprio, who earned an Oscar for The Revenant, has long been vocal about environmental issues. In March, he criticized the Australian government for approving mining expansions in Western Australia. He also oversees a personal foundation focused on fighting climate change, protecting biodiversity, and addressing public health impacts from pollution.
Still, his private jet travel and attendance at opulent events have raised eyebrows. Activists have pointed out that Bezos’ Venice wedding, attended by scores of celebrities flying in on private aircraft, was not only extravagant but environmentally damaging—contradicting the very values many of its attendees, including DiCaprio, publicly support.
Critics argue that wealthy public figures often assume their influence offsets their carbon footprints. “One private flight can wipe out a year’s worth of recycling by an average person,” one user commented. “It’s frustrating and makes you question the sincerity of all of it.”
This isn’t the first time DiCaprio’s lifestyle has come under scrutiny. In January 2025, he and girlfriend Vittoria Ceretti were spotted flying by private jet to Mexico while wildfires raged across California.
Despite the criticism, DiCaprio remains a prominent voice in the environmental movement. In late 2024, he presented the Hilton Humanitarian Prize to Amazon Frontlines, an organization working to protect Indigenous rights and ecosystems in the Amazon. He also reportedly completed a sustainable home in Hollywood Hills ahead of his 50th birthday.
In a 2022 interview, DiCaprio said, “I have two great passions in life: acting and protecting the natural world—raising awareness about the climate crisis. I’ve run my foundation for over 20 years.”
Still, for some observers, the dissonance between his eco-conscious messaging and high-emission lifestyle is difficult to ignore.
Leonardo DiCaprio finally checks this off his bucket list, ends his biggest regret
Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro team up for first time in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another’
LOS ANGELES − Amid serious themes of political struggle, oppression and resistance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s big-budget satire “One Battle After Another,” there’s laugh-out-loud comedy − especially when Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro share the screen for the first time.
DiCaprio, 50, subverts his Hollywood leading man image by wearing a ratty red robe, unkempt hair and oversized sunglasses as former revolutionary and current stoner Bob Ferguson, who is forced back into action to save himself and his daughter (Chase Infiniti) from paramilitary enforcers.
There are clear parallels to Jeff Bridges’ “The Dude” role in the Coen Brothers’ “The Big Lebowski.”
“Think about ‘The Dude,’ if he was put into a modern context and was a revolutionary,” DiCaprio says of the robe, speaking in a joint interview with del Toro for the new movie (in theaters Sept. 26). “We had a lot of discussions, because I have one costume. Bob’s got his cape: the red robe he was getting stoned in at home alone when giant forces tried to ruin his life.”
Del Toro, 58, steps in as local karate instructor Sensei Sergio St. Carlos, who preaches calming deep breathing while helping his harried friend.
“Paul wants to laugh − you could see him looking to laugh,” says del Toro as DiCaprio mimics their director’s restrained, behind-the-camera chuckle.
If DiCaprio fans were imagining debonair “Great Gatsby” moments in the 2-hour, 40-minute caper, think again. Bob is the Dude-like stoner who detests the world’s smarmy millionaires.
“These flawed characters are just trying to find their way against these imperialistic forces,” DiCaprio says. “It’s genius, because it subverts all expectations.”
“One Battle” catches up with Ferguson, the former terrorist who has been hiding out for 16 years with Willa (Infiniti), his daughter with his long-ago captured partner Perfidia (Teyana Taylor). When obsessed pursuer Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) finally tracks Bob down, the paranoid but loving dad has smoked copious amounts of marijuana on his couch.
The surprise raid explains why Bob’s red plaid loungewear becomes his outfit as he runs − and then pursues Lockjaw, who abducts Willa. Anderson had suggested Bob don a military poncho.
“But I asked, ‘Why’s he wearing a poncho if it’s not raining?'” DiCaprio says. And Anderson said: ” ‘All right, we’re keeping the robe. That’s it.’ Bob is not a traditional hero. His heroism is just relentless pursuit and going forward. That’s why we had to keep the robe.”
Sensei Sergio is swept up in the drama off-hours in his martial arts gi with sandals and socks. “It’s go, go, go, so we keep the karate pants the whole way,” del Toro says.
Bob’s escape apparel over the two-day fight for his daughter’s survival features cataract-protecting sunglasses snatched comically from a drugstore rack. DiCaprio personally picked the unflattering shades.
“There’s the weird ‘Star Wars’ theme to this movie,” DiCaprio says. “I had this vision of these wraparound optical glasses like Boba Fett. Those are the ones I had to choose.”
The film’s trailer teases its comedy − including a gag where the dynamic duo separate as Sensei Sergio drops through a trapdoor that’s instantly concealed by a spring-loaded rug.
“That carpet rolling is funny, like the Three Stooges or Buster Keaton,” says del Toro, who throws down a French term for undefinable admiration. “It’s just that little je ne sais quoi.”
“That cherry on top,” DiCaprio adds, helpfully.
Benicio del Toro drove the car with ‘the diamond’ Leonardo DiCaprio hanging out
The two reunite for a brief road trip that gets sullied by pursuing police. DiCaprio praises del Toro’s acting while driving. “There’s a lot of plot to cover while he’s driving at 40, 50 miles per hour through an abandoned town outside El Paso,” DiCaprio says. “He’s making hairpin turns with VistaVision cameras on the hood.”
Del Toro says he drove with extreme caution for scenes when his red-robed screen partner climbed out the open window.
“I had Leo, the diamond, hanging outside the car. I couldn’t drop the diamond.”
The revolutionary satire was perfect viewing for DiCaprio’s “peace-loving hippie” father, George, who attended the movie’s Hollywood world premiere. “He loved the themes of this movie,” DiCaprio says.
George even beat his famous son to appearing in an Anderson film, making his movie debut with a cameo in 2021’s “Licorice Pizza” as a wig shop owner and waterbed salesman. “I got the call from Paul and I thought he was calling me for something,” DiCaprio says. “And Paul was like, ‘Actually, I want to talk to your dad.’ “
Leo DiCaprio is happy to be in ‘One Battle After Another’ after his ‘biggest regret’: turning down ‘Boogie Nights’
Del Toro played maritime lawyer Sauncho Smilax in Anderson’s 2014 noir comedy “Inherent Vice.”
“It’s one of those career checks to work with Paul,” del Toro says.
“For me, too,” adds DiCaprio, who is at peace after passing on the Dirk Diggler role in Anderson’s 1997 “Boogie Nights,” which the actor has called his “biggest regret.” (The role went to Mark Wahlberg.)
“Yeah, it’s a regret. But it’s just out of my admiration for a seminal film of my generation. I just love the worlds (Anderson) creates. They’re lasting pieces of art. So it’s less of it being a regret, but, wow. I wanted to be a part of that magic. And thank God, I’m here more than 25 years later getting to do this.”
Leonardo DiCaprio Reveals His Biggest Career Regret: Turning Down Boogie Nights
In a newly published interview, Leonardo DiCaprio opened up about what he calls the biggest regret of his career: turning down a role in Boogie Nights. The actor passed on director Paul Thomas Anderson’s breakout film in order to star in Titanic.
The revelation came during a conversation published August 13 by Esquire, in which Anderson himself interviewed DiCaprio.
When asked, “Do you have any regrets?” the Oscar-winning actor responded candidly:
“Boogie Nights is my biggest regret. That film spoke to my entire generation. I can’t imagine anyone else playing that role now besides Mark Wahlberg. When I finally watched it, I just thought, ‘This is a masterpiece.’”
DiCaprio acknowledged the irony of confessing this to the very man who directed the film. “I’m not just saying this because you’re here,” he assured Anderson.
Released in 1997, Boogie Nights was written, directed, and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. Set in California’s San Fernando Valley, the film follows the rise and fall of Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), a teenage nightclub busboy who becomes adult film star Dirk Diggler during the so-called “Golden Age of Porn” in the 1970s. The character spirals into drug addiction in the 1980s before attempting a comeback.
Boogie Nights earned three Academy Award nominations: Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Julianne Moore), and Best Supporting Actor (Burt Reynolds). The film is widely regarded as one of Anderson’s defining works and a modern classic. Variety has named it among the greatest films of all time.
At the time, DiCaprio turned down the lead role in Boogie Nights in favor of playing Jack Dawson in James Cameron’s Titanic, which would go on to become one of the most successful films in cinematic history.
In a 2008 interview with GQ, DiCaprio clarified that regretting Boogie Nights didn’t mean he regretted doing Titanic. When asked if he would choose differently if given the chance to go back, DiCaprio replied:
“I’m not saying I would change anything. But that would’ve been a completely different path for my career. Honestly, I think both films were amazing—I just wish I could’ve done both.”
He added that Titanic was crucial in shaping his career and acknowledged that without it, his trajectory would have looked very different. Still, he admitted being curious about how things might have unfolded had he chosen the other path.
Nearly three decades later, DiCaprio is finally getting a chance to work with Anderson—his long-postponed collaboration comes full circle in One Battle After Another, their first film together.
In the new drama, DiCaprio plays Bob Ferguson, a washed-up revolutionary forced back into action after years in exile to rescue his teenage daughter, Willa (played by Chase Infiniti), from a brutal conflict.
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