Casting director Avy Kaufman is proud to have cast Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1995 drama biopic “The Basketball Diaries.”
With a career spanning more than 30 years behind her, casting director Avy Kaufman has created an impressive resume. Over the years, she has been involved in a variety of projects, including the Emmy-winning HBO shows Succession and Mare of Easttown, as well as the Academy Award-winning films King Richard, The Blues of Ma Rainey and Lincoln. She also participated in the casting of memorable projects such as Tár, The OA, Scream 4 and the upcoming Rustin. Although each work on which Avy Kaufman worked benefits from an exceptional casting, one actor particularly stands out: a certain Leonardo DiCaprio.
In an interview with Collider, she said she was very proud to have helped advance the career of the legendary actor with the biopic The Basketball Diaries (1995), which also starred Mark Wahlberg and Lorraine Bracco, among others.
How could I top Leonardo DiCaprio on Basketball Diaries? If anyone watched Basketball Diaries right now: how brilliant were he and Mark Wahlberg together? [Ils vous] break the heart. Oh yes, oh my God, a group of people I’m very, very proud of, but saying names makes me feel weird.
The casting director also shared a memorable moment between her and the young actor during which she understood that he would go far in the industry. Even though they didn’t know each other very well, she noticed certain aspects of him from a very young age, notably a certain “sensitivity”.
“Even when he was a young boy, he – I don’t know him, you know? I knew him for two seconds. [Rires] I remember he was smoking and he said to me, ‘Don’t tell my mom.’ And I said, ‘Don’t tell my husband!’ There is a sensitivity in him. There’s probably still a little boy in him now because it was [comme] becoming a man was about lost souls finding their way, it was like, ‘Mom, can you hear me?’”
LEONARDO DICAPRIO IN THE PRESENT
This year, Leonardo DiCaprio reunited with Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon, which will hit our screens on October 18. The film, which made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, is based on a true story and depicts the devastating murders of the Osage people in 1920s Oklahoma that led to an FBI investigation.
The actor will team up with Scorsese again for an adaptation of the best-seller The Wager Shipwrecks and is also reportedly in the running for the lead role in a Jim Jones biopic, although no further information has been revealed. Recently, Leonardo DiCaprio has also distinguished himself as a producer for projects such as Killers of the Flower Moonthe animated film Ozi, voice of the Forest or the series Shining Girls with Elisabeth Moss.
Check out the full interview with Avy Kaufman below: