Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese ‘Debate for Months’ Before Doing a Movie Together

Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are offering a peek behind the curtain at their artistic process.

The duo brought their movie-making insights to Time’s “A Year in Time” event in New York City on Dec. 10.

With a storied — and award-winning — history of professional partnership, they engaged in lengthy retrospective conversation and celebrated DiCaprio’s honor as the magazine’s 2025 Entertainer of the Year.

DiCaprio, 51, and Scorsese, 83, have collaborated on six movies and one short film, the most recent being Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). The duo’s seventh movie is underway, called What Happens at Night, in which DiCaprio stars opposite Jennifer Lawrence (his Don’t Look Up costar) for an adaptation of Peter Cameron’s novel.

Since their first collaboration in 2002 with Gangs of New York, the Hollywood legends have grown closer and more trusting in their shared creative process, they explained.

DiCaprio said a key element of their working style is to “debate for months” the films and screenplays, as part of a “cinema education.”

“[It’s] lots of questions and lots of playing devil’s advocate about a way to approach things that may not be the most obvious direction,” DiCaprio continued. “We’re doing that on the new film that we’re doing now, but it’s been absolutely one of the most profound learning experiences.”

Scorsese, who DiCaprio described as an detail-oriented and “obsessive” filmmaker, engaged the actor in discussions about the screenplay for The Aviator (2004).

Scorsese expanded on the Academy Award-winning actor’s description, saying that the beginning of his process starts “alone in a room,” orchestrating shots with the script in hand and music in the background.

The Goodfellas director also credited their ability to overcome a 32-year age difference and come together as contemporaries.

“We have this ability to collaborate together, and it’s based on trust and love,” he added. “We go to places sometimes that at times feel almost impossible.”

Given Scorsese’s decades on the One Battle After Another star, he had a head start in his career, of which DiCaprio was a early and avid fan. He recalled going to movie theaters with his father and receiving the advice that he should “strive to work with” Scorsese. He also noted that Scorsese’s support of his work at a young age was “gracious,” as he often is with young filmmakers, he added.

A big moment of progress in their collaborative style, Scorsese said, came during The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). DiCaprio apparently “convinced” the director to take on the project, and “trust” was an immediate foundation.

“[Trust] was so intrinsic of who we are together as collaborators that we tried everything, and some of the most extraordinary things came from your enthusiasm,” Scorsese said.

Unlike some of the earlier scripts they worked off, they encountered “complete freedom” with The Wolf of Wall Street.

“This was kind of like a Jackson Pollock in a lot of ways,” DiCaprio explained. “The script was fantastic, but we ended up tearing that thing apart and really embracing this sort of collegial figure.”

Though their collaborative process can blend their approaches, the actor said he will stay in his lane in front of the camera. Explaining how people have asked him if he wants to direct one day, he said he would “never want to.”

“I could never do anything close to what Martin Scorsese does. Why would I do that? But if I look back on anything, I would’ve loved to have observed that process behind the camera a lot more,” DiCaprio said.

Their next team effort, What Happens at Night, is set to begin filming in February.