Jonathan Crocker recently had a chat with Leo, talking about his childhood, movies,  and more. You can read the full interview below.

Do you like to be called Leo or Leonardo?

Either one is fine. Leo is probably the only nickname I’ve had. Most people call me Leo.

Didn’t they try to make you change your name?

Yeah, there when I was 11 years old when I first wanted to be an actor professionally. We went to an agent and they wanted to change my name to Lenny Williams.

That’s not cool.

Not really. Not really. They felt my name was too ethnic and wouldn’t get as many jobs. So that thwarted me from being an actor for a number of years. I tried again, I think, two years later when I was 13 and got an agent to accept me with my name.

You were Oscar nominated five years later. How does that feel when you’re 18?

For Gilbert Grape, yeah. And I absolutely didn’t know how to react to any of it. I remember coming out of a screening and somebody telling me how great they thought my performance was and that there was a potential for me to be nominated. I’d never heard anything like that before. It was all completely confusing. I was excited but I didn’t understand how hard it is to accomplish something like that.

When was the last time you saw What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?

Couple of years ago.

Do you recognise that boy?

That and This Boy’s Life, especially, both those films I get quite nostalgic about. It’s sometimes emotional watching them because I feel like I’m that kid again. Really just incredibly happy to have gotten a shot. So I remember a lot of those moments on set like they were yesterday, especially working with people like De Niro and Depp at that age. It was like winning the lottery.

Do you ever think the Oscar and ‘Leo mania’ was too much too soon?

I’ve thought about that question a lot. A lot of people may look at what I’ve done career-wise and say that there was a time period in which I tried to possibly become a movie star, per se, tried to go for much bigger pictures.

Any truth in that?

The truth of the matter is, there /was/ a period of time, very early on – when I started watching films and having heroes in the industry, actor-wise. But I feel I’ve been very consistent about my dreams in this industry and what I wanted to be as an actor.

Did that include playing Robin in Batman Forever? There’s a rumour you screen-tested for it.

I had a meeting. I never screen-tested. I had a meeting with Joel Schumacher. It was just one meeting and, no, I didn’t end up doing it.

Did you actually want the role?

Er, I don’t think I did, no. [laughs] As I recall I took the meeting, but didn’t want to play the role. Joel Schumacher is a very talent director but I don’t think I was ready for anything like that.

Do you feel like you dodged a bullet?

[laughs]

Were you in talks to play Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels?

I did have a meeting with George Lucas about that as well, yes.

What happened?

Same scenario. [laughs]

He wanted you, but you didn’t fancy it?

Um, right. Exactly.

Why?

Again, just didn’t feel ready to take that dive. At that point.

What about Spider-Man? How close did you come to playing him before your friend Tobey Maguire took the part?

Er, that was another one of those situations, similar to Robin, where I didn’t feel ready to put on that suit yet. They got in touch with me.

Would you like to play a superhero?

You never know. You never know. They’re getting better and better as far as complex characters in these movies. I haven’t yet. But no, I don’t rule out anything.

Your new film Inception, by The Dark Knight director Chris Nolan, is pretty mindblowing. How highly do you rate Nolan?

I think only one or two other filmmakers in this industry would be able to accomplish this film. It’s certainly not something you come across very often. And it really is all Chris Nolan.

Being honest, did you understand the script when you read it?

Well, it wasn’t that the script was incomprehensible. Here you have a man who’s part of a black-market organisation of dream-infiltration and is also haunted by his own subconscious nightmares that keep infiltrating his network and sabotaging the ideas.

You visited mental asylums to prepare for Shutter Island. What’s the most extreme thing you’ve ever done to prepare for a role?

Well, the thing is, there were really no reference points for this film. You’re dreaming. I’ve read Freud’s analysis of dreams, but at the end of the day I realised that this is, for all intents and purposes, locked in the mind of Chris Nolan. That’s what my preparation was: my conversations with him where he tried to relay this concept that’s been swirling around in his mind for eight years.

Ever had dream that’s stuck in your memory?

I’m not a big dreamer. They come to me and I forget them immediately.

Have you ever tried lucid dreaming or hallucinogenic drugs that create a dream-world?

You mean like peyote or… what’s the other drug people go to Brazil for? It’s, um… I forgot the name of it. I’ve had a couple of friends who’ve gone on those trips.

But have you tried them yourself?

I haven’t done them myself. But I’ve had friends who’ve gone to Brazilian rainforests and Peru and taken some of these drugs that make you vomit for three days and see your dreams in a waking state. The stories that they told me were pretty profound – they never saw reality in the same way again. It really changed their lives. It made them look at reality as completely different.

Tempted to try it?

Have I been tempted by it? Who knows, who knows. Some day, but I haven’t as of yet.

Nolan loves. Scorsese loves you. You’re getting a lot of great roles. Do you feel like you’re more respected now?

No, the truth of the matter is, I’ve spent very little time trying to figure that out – trying to figure out what the consensus is. The more you try to control it, the less you have a grasp on people’s perception. It’s a tremendous waste of time, I think. I don’t think an audience always wants you to do the same thing or try aggressively to prove anything.

Is it true that you broke Daniel Day-Lewis nose when you were filming a fight scene for Gangs Of New York?

No. That is not true. He did break his nose. There was a scene where I think that maybe the misconception is this. He was supposed to be head-butting my face after I tried to assassinate him in front of a Chinese pagoda.

He broke his nose on your face?

It was a head-butt, but it wasn’t me. It was a pillow or a sandbag or something like that. That’s when he broke his nose. He was smashing his face off–camera. I wasn’t anywhere near the camera.

Have you ever been in a real fight?

Yes, I have! [laughs] Yep.

So what happened?

Oh, you know, I mean, in junior high and high school, I grew up in kind of a rough neighbourhood and I was much smaller than I am now. I didn’t go through my growth spurt until I was 15 years old. So I always sort of had to fight my way to have credibility in school and ended up with other, tougher guys.

So lots of fights?

So I got in lots and lots of fights in school. And sometimes it’s carried on to after school as well, but I’m pretty level-headed for the most part, I don’t ever look for it, ever, and I don’t condone it. And it’s never something that feels good after it, that’s for sure.

You have a Twitter account. Is that you tweeting or do you get people to do it for you?

I am tweeting, about the environmental issue that I’ve been working on for the last eight months. I just went to Nepal and Bhutan and I’m going to some other places to work with the World Wildlife Fund on trying to try to save the last of the wild tigers, because there’s only 3,200 left. I’m going toa revamp my website and try to do an internet component with everything I’m doing philanthropically. So that’s what I’m focused on.

You donate a lot of money to charity. What do you spend on yourself?

I’m not really the type of guy who spends his money on a lot of luxurious stuff. I’m a collector. I collect art and vintage film posters and things of that nature.

Did you watch the USA in the World Cup?

You know, I pretty much only really love basketball, that’s what I’ve got a real passion for. I know soccer in the US is obviously not our main sport but for that win [against Algeria] in the tie that we had, people were going nuts here.

What do you do when you’re not shooting movies?

I travel. I’ve been travelling this whole year and going to a lot of cool places that I’ve always wanted to see and experience. That’s what I do in my off-time. That and trying to find the next good movie to do. Trying to develop stuff through my production company. Buy rights to films that I think might be interesting. See places in the world and be a part of ecological movements of people. That’s where I spend most of my time when I’m not working.

What’s the best place you’ve ever visited?

Wow… There’s quite a few. When I did The Beach in Thailand, that’s was one of the most amazing places that I’ve ever been. I’m a big scuba diver, too, so I just went to Galapagos and saw where Darwin formed his theory of evolution and that was pretty spectacular.

Where else do you recommend to dive?

You can’t beat the Great Barrier Reef for coral reefs. That, and Belize is pretty amazing. I did the Blue Hole, with the reef sharks and stalactites and everything. It’s definitely worth seeing, man. That’s one of the top places in the world, for sure.

You’re close with Kate Winslet. Now that her husband, Sam Mendes, is director the next Bond, would you be interest in a role?

A role? Or Bond himself? [laughs]

You tell us. You’d be interested in playing Bond?

Again, it always depends… on the director, on the script, on the role. Like I said, I don’t rule anything out.

Source: Jonathan Crocker

Once again, Inception is still #1 at the box office.This Firday, Inception came in with $13.2 million, while Angelina Jolie’s Salt took second with $12.7 million,”Despicable Me” comes in third with $7.3 million,and in fourth spot came “Ramona and Beezus” with $3 million.”Inception” has now amassed a worldwide total worth $129.8 million.

As previously reported, Leo was planning to star in a Mel Gibson-directed flick about Vikings, E! Online sources deny the pairing.A source close to Leo tells E! that, “There’s not even a script yet. So it’s not real, but it is technically still in the works. Nothing has been settled.”Meanwhile, DiCaprio definitely will be partaking in the George Clooney produced/directed big-screen adaptation of the political play “Farragut North”, according to Peace FM Online.

This week Leo is featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. In this issue, you can read more about Inception.Leo  explains that shooting the film was both a mental and physical challenge.Nolan, a stickler for naturalism, insisted that his actors and crew bring his vision to life without the use of computer-generated effects as much as possible, from making Joseph Gordon-Levitt perform zero gravity fisticuffs inside elaborate, rotating sets to asking the cast to feign peaceful slumber inside a van during a high-speed chase. “Actually,” says DiCaprio, “the van sequences were much easier than doing five pages of dialogue and the whole set is tilting and we have to hold onto a bar in order to not slide off the stage.”Pick up the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands July 23rd.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

I’ve just uploaded the following photos to the gallery, the Inception UK,US,Paris,Japan Premiere’s and Leo’s cover of Rolling Stone magazine with a photo from the issue. More photos will be added,once available. Enjoy!

Inception London Premiere – 7.08.10

Inception Pairs Premiere – 7.11.10

Inception LA Premiere – 7.13.10

Inception Japan Premiere – 7.20.10

Rolling Stone – August 2010

Leo’s Twitter: Join me. #DemandZero now. Check out details for Countdown to Zero in your city here: http://bit.ly/gzfreeticket @globalzero.

Countdown to Zero reveals the truth behind an issue on which human survival itself hangs – the very real possibility of nuclear disaster. From the producers of An Inconvenient Truth, Countdown is a chilling wake up call about the urgency of the nuclear threat. Getting this film into theaters across the country is critical to building real momentum for a world without nuclear weapons. And if we can sell out opening weekend in each of the cities where the film is released, we’ll do just that and build the Global Zero movement from coast to coast.You can buy your tickets here, or find a free screening in your area here.

In the box office smash Inception , Leonardo DiCaprio spends most of his time inside people’s dreams. But what’s going inside DiCaprio’s head in real life? In the new issue of Rolling Stone, on sale at newsstands today, associate editor Brian Hiatt finds out. “[My stomach churns over] really stupid stuff,” DiCaprio reveals. “Things that shouldn’t make you anxious whatsoever. It’s crazy how your mind will become this database to make you worry about things that are so arbitrary. I have a well-organized life, and I’ve put a lot of thought into the things that I do, and then, you know, my stomach will be…I’ll just be sitting there, totally anxious about something ridiculous</div>

Source: Rolling Stone

The box office has been pretty good with Leo lately.In February, “Shutter Island” delivered his biggest opening to date, with $41 million in ticket sales, and went on to gross $128 million domestically. This past weekend, “Inception” performed even better, grossing $60.4 million. So what is next for Leo? Well, here are a couple of projects that Leo could possibly be starting.

“Hoover”
Next up for Leo is the title role in Clint Eastwood’s biopic about controversial FBI director — and rumored cross-dresser — J. Edgar Hoover. The script comes from the pen of Dustin Lance Black, who won an Oscar for the Sean Penn-starring “Milk.”

“The Wolf of Wall Street”
Based on a tell-all memoir, this project has been around since 2007, but it was given new life earlier this month when Martin Scorsese offered to hand over directorial duties to Ridley Scott. DiCaprio would play a stockbroker who lands in prison for refusing to cooperate in a 1990s securities-fraud case. The only question about production is timing: Leo is set for “Hoover” next and Scott is ramping up to shoot his 3-D “Alien” prequel.

The Mel Gibson Viking Movie
Word about this project dropped in December of last year, and earlier this month, DiCaprio told us he couldn’t wait to be a part of Gibson’s take on “some of the most barbaric people ever in history.” But after Mel’s vicious phone conversations with girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva became public, it’s hard to imagine Leo wanting anything to do with this movie.

“Travis McGee”
Oliver Stone is circling this detective story, with DiCaprio attached to star. The character is the hero of over 20 novels written by John D. MacDonald, with the first film to be adapted from 1964’s “The Deep Blue Good-by,” the first book in the series about a “salvage consultant” pulled into various adventures.

“Prisoners”
DiCaprio is attached to star in this thriller as a father who kidnaps and tortures the man who kidnapped his daughter. A director has yet to be announced. File this one under “wait and see.”

“The Chancellor Manuscript”
This flick would put Leo in Jason Bourne territory. Based on the novel by “Bourne” mastermind Robert Ludlum, DiCaprio would presumably star as the author of a novel about a government conspiracy theory which actually turns about to be true. “Quantum of Solace” helmer Marc Forster is attached to direct. No word yet on when production might actually begin.

“Brave New World”
We haven’t heard anything about this one since last summer, when Ridley Scott and DiCaprio announced plans to bring an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s seminal novel to the big screen. Leo is onboard as a producer with an eye on a starring role.

“Sinatra”
Scorsese is putting this picture together, and word is that DiCaprio is a top candidate to play Ol’ Blue Eyes. When we asked him about the possibility earlier this year, he said, “I don’t know [if I'll play him]. I have no idea, really. That’s really up to [Scorsese] and the people involved with [Sinatra's] estate.”

Inception finished first at the box office this weekend, with $60.4 million dollars.The action tale is one of Leo’s biggest opening weekend, topping his previous best of $41.1 million for last winter’s “Shutter Island.” Inception is directed by Christopher Nolan,Nolan who directed the Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight,” which opened over the same weekend two years ago with a record $158.4 million. Coming in second, is the previous weekend’s No. 1 movie, Steve Carell’s animated hit “Despicable Me.” Inception is now playing in theaters and IMAX.

James Rocchi of MSN Movies caught up with the stars of Inception, to talk about their new mind-blowing movie. Inception is now playing in theaters and IMAX!