How I went in a few hours from my office chair to chatting with Leonardo DiCaprio is another story. But - you guessed - it has a lot to do with timing and a colleague asking me to help her and swap shift with her. Call it good karma, next thing I know, the gloomy London day that was Monday 22 of January - most depressing of the year, according to a research - takes a gleeful turn when I’m sent to interview the Hollywood actor and the cast of his latest movie "Blood Diamond."

The place is the Claridges, one of London’s more sophisticated hotels, an Art Deco jewel favorite of the Queen and rock royalty.

Sure I’m thrilled, but not exactly because of Leonardo’s blue eyes. I know him from his movies and his decade-long presence in the media. I’ve always thought of him as a "cool guy," someone who chose not to be consumed by fame and grinded by the Hollywood machine, an actor who at the peak of his career chose a courageous path rather than a more predictable and opportunistic one. So this is my tiny chance to see if that’s all true, to scratch beyond the glossy surface of the magazines and take a rare glimpse at the human being, not the semi-god spotted arm in arm with gorgeous models at the Oscars.

Oh, and I have five minutes to do that. Yes, five minutes to see the real Leonardo and hear about the movie, the idea, the controversial subject of blood diamonds financing wars in Africa, child soldiers, a black man looking for his son (Djimon Hounsou) and a white man (Leonardo DiCaprio) desperate for a way out of a life he has a lot of distaste for. We’re on a tight schedule today as the event organized at the Claridges is a so called "media junket," where a great number of journalists are invited on the same day, in the same place, to interview the movie’s cast. So my colleague Kendra and I patiently wait for our call, while frantic press agents scroll through a long list of names and, one by one, whisk each journalist into the interview rooms. What am I going to do, spit my ten-something questions like fire, so as not to steal precious time to his answers? But then it doesn’t go that way.

I enter the room and the studio lighting is so strong I can barely see DiCaprio sitting on a chair right in front of mine. He seems diminutive there, he looks boyish, good-looking of course, but in a very different way from the screen…more like a normal guy than a huge Hollywood star. I introduce myself and shake his hand: "Hi Leonardo" I say while pronouncing his name in my mother-tongue Italian, rolling that "rrr" and stretching the "e" the same way I would say Da Vinci’s name.

Cameras roll and so come the answers and it looks clear from the way he talks that he truly liked working on this highly charged movie. His character, Danny Archer, is a soldier of fortune who has been arrested for smuggling diamonds, not an immediately likeable man and a far cry from the one he impersonated in Titanic. As he sails through my questions, he seems genuine and so down to earth at times I almost forget I am talking to a Hollywood actor. There’s nothing self-conscious or overly guarded about him. I feel I don’t need to bring down walls, that this is a chat the same way I’d have with any other guy his age. Time is running out and I spit out the last question, trying to ignore his publicist who’s been giving me dirty looks for the last minute or so. She raises her hand and says "We have to stop here." I know … it’s her job. But I’m doing mine and look back at Leonardo and repeat my question. He says to her ‘It ok’ and answers what I’ve asked.

It’s the day before the Oscar nominations and though he steered away from the subject during the interview (how to blame him?), I stand up from my chair and whisper "good luck," leaving behind the bright lights of Leonardo’s set.

Posted by Daniela Berretta, Producer: 10:29 AM

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