5 Movies Leonardo DiCaprio Would Put on His Cinematic Mount Rushmore

Leonardo DiCaprio is maybe our last movie star. So it's cool to unpack the movies he loves that made him go into this line of work and to see what inspires him.

In a recent viral clip, the Academy Award-winning actor sat down to list his "Mount Rushmore" of movies. His choices lean heavily into character-driven narratives and revolutionary acting performances, so it's easy to see him in these picks.

Let's dive in.

Leonardo DiCaprio's Favorite Movies

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East of Eden (1955)

• Director: Elia Kazan
• Writer: Paul Osborn (based on the novel by John Steinbeck)
• Cast: James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives, Jo Van Fleet

DiCaprio kicks it off with Elia Kazan’s classic. If you look at early DiCaprio roles—This Boy’s Life or Romeo + Juliet—you can see the direct line to James Dean from him. We're just lucky we've gotten so many great movies from DiCaprio, and we get to see him entering a new era now.

Taxi Driver (1976)

• Director: Martin Scorsese
• Writer: Paul Schrader
• Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Albert Brooks

You can’t talk about DiCaprio without talking about Scorsese, and you can’t talk about Scorsese without talking about De Niro. So again, you kind of see the seeds planted in DiCaprio here. This movie is the ultimate study in character isolation—something DiCaprio has chased in his own work with Scorsese in The Aviator and Shutter Island.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

• Director: Stanley Kubrick
• Writers: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke
• Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Douglas Rain (voice of HAL 9000)

DiCaprio throws in Kubrick’s sci-fi giant because of the visuals and how it amazes him. I wish those two got a chance to work together, it would have been epic. This is also a good reminder for filmmakers: even the most actor-focused stars respect the power of pure visual storytelling.

Papillon (1973)

• Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
• Writers: Dalton Trumbo, Lorenzo Semple Jr. (based on the book by Henri Charrière)
• Cast: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory, Don Gordon

If you haven't seen this prison drama, put it on your watchlist immediately. It relies entirely on the chemistry between two very different types of actors: McQueen’s stoic tough guy and Hoffman’s eccentric character actor. And again, it's cool to see what DiCaprio borrowed from both of them.

On the Waterfront (1954)

• Director: Elia Kazan
• Writer: Budd Schulberg
• Cast: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint

When the interviewer suggests this Brando classic, Leo doesn't hesitate: "Incredible. Marlon Brando. That's all we had to hear". On the Waterfront is widely considered the moment screen acting changed forever, so every actor on this list, including DiCaprio, owes a debt to Terry Malloy.

Summing It All Up

DiCaprio’s list is heavy on "New Hollywood" and the Method actors who defined it. I loved hearing what drives him and getting a sense of who DiCaprio is behind all this star power.

Are there any movies you would suggest he check out?