Leonardo DiCaprio turned Martin Scorsese onto Studio Ghibli films

Leonardo DiCaprio Martin Scorsese

Leonardo DiCaprio has revealed that he recommended two films from animation studio, Studio Ghibli, for director Martin Scorsese to watch.

Speaking with Letterboxd earlier this week, the two Hollywood stars, who recently collaborated on their sixth movie together, Killers Of The Flower Moon, opened up about DiCaprio’s recommendations, which were both created by Hayao Miyazaki.

“I was asked what films I introduced to you, but considering you’ve seen every film ever made up until 1980, it’s pretty hard to say,” DiCaprio said to the director.

“Other than maybe Spirited Away – Miyazaki’s films – and maybe Princess Monoke,” he continued.

Scorsese responded: “It was Spirited Away you told me to watch,”

Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese on 11 January 2024 in New York City. CREDIT: Getty/Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for National Board of Review

The 2001 animated fantasy movie was a huge success, crossing more than $395million at the box office against a $19.2million budget, and winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards.

The 1997 movie, Princess Monoke was also a critical and commercial success, and held Japan’s box office record for domestic films until the release of Spirited Away. It has reportedly been cited by director James Cameron as an influence for his 2009 epic movie, Avatar.

According to Far Out magazine, DiCaprio revealed in an Esquire interview that Princess Monoke was one of his seven favourite movies of all time.

Miyazaki continues to create globally successful animation movies, with his latest film, The Boy And The Heron winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film last week.

In other news, Scorsese is set to direct an 80-minute feature film about the life of Jesus.

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