Leonardo DiCaprio on location for The 11th Hour.
Anyone who recalls this year's Oscars, when Leonardo DiCaprio shared the podium with An Inconvenient Truth's Al Gore, knows that the environment is an important issue for the actor-producer. This overriding concern explains why DiCaprio recently took a break from working on Revolutionary Road (the 2008 period drama that reunites him with Titanic co-star Kate Winslet) to make a case for his new “green” documentary The 11th Hour.
Currently in limited release, The 11th Hour is a labor of love for DiCaprio, who serves as producer and narrator, and sisters Nadia Conners and Leslie Conners Petersen, the film’s writer-directors. It delivers its chilling message that our planet is in a dire ecological crisis through haunting imagery and interviews with 54 scientists, environmentalists and activists. Above all, DiCaprio wants you to know - the time is now.
Q: Why make The 11th Hour?
DiCaprio: It really was a homemade movie in a lot of ways. I had previously worked together with Nadia and Leslie on two short films about the environment. We felt there was a need to hear some of the great visionaries and experts of our time in the environmental field, to let them speak in an open forum, uninterrupted, about an issue for which they’ve devoted their lives, to give us insight as investigators.
Q: How long have you been an environmentalist?
DiCaprio: I became an actor at a very young age, but I also had a deep respect for nature. I think I was sort of a little biologist when I was younger! I watched documentaries on rain forest depletion and the loss of species and habitats for animals around the world. It affected me in a very hardcore emotional way when I was younger. So later in life, I wanted to continue that path and to learn more about ecological issues.
About 10 years ago, I walked into a room with Al Gore, who explained to me what climate change was and global warming, and the science behind that and the decades of research that he had done on the subject matter. It really propelled me be more vocal about the issue, because it seemed that the mainstream media was not making enough of a connection with the change of weather that we’d been having. It led me to work with organizations like Global Green, and to be more proactive in the environmental movement.
It seems now, more than ever, we’re at a real tipping point. Certainly, in the public’s eye, global warming is at the forefront of a lot of people’s minds. I think it is the movement certainly of my generation and the next generation. I think it’s galvanized the young generation more than any other movement in years, because it’s so universal.
Q: Is there any one person out there, in this “11th environmental hour,” who you think will go down in the history books as a hero?
DiCaprio: I think there’s got to be millions of heroes. I don’t think it takes an expert - and I’m not an expert on this issue by any means - to realize that our weather patterns are changing. Serious things are happening on our planet that just don’t seem normal. The whole purpose of making this movie was to get some answers from the impartial scientific community. Obviously, human beings have had a devastating impact in this sort of modern globalized world that we live in. It’s just a shame that we haven’t implemented a lot of the technologies that are out there. We could reduce our footprint on this planet by 90 percent with technologies that are already available. We don’t have to invent anything new.
Q: You recorded approximately 150 hours of interview footage with all the experts. Are there any plans to put it up on the Web or to use it for a separate TV series?
DiCaprio: We don’t know yet. But the biggest challenge for all of us was to edit all the footage down to 91 minutes. This was my first experience making a documentary, actually sitting for many, many hours in an editing room. And so there’s I quote I keep using: ‘When you make a film with a narrative, the director is God. When you make a documentary, God is the director.’ And that’s what really happened. The words of the experts in this movie really dictated the shape and the emotional content of this entire film.
We want the audience to leave the film feeling slightly transformed or slightly motivated to actually do something good for the planet. And that was the other challenge: how do you take these profound ideas and thoughts, and condense them into an hour and a half format that hopefully inspires people?
Q: What do you do in your own day-to-day life that is environmentally friendly?
DiCaprio: I’ve been driving a hybrid car for five, six years now. My house is built green, I have solar panels. I try to live by example – but I don’t think the environmental movement is about telling people how to live, no matter what financial background they come from. Because not everyone can put solar panels on their house, it’s just not a reality.
It’s about just being aware of these global forces that are out there. It’s about being aware in the next election, asking the right questions about the next candidate’s environmental policy, and voting with your dollar. Of course, personal action is important; it’s important to lead by example. But I don’t think anything is going to change on a massive level until the powers-that-be infuse lifestyle [changes] into our daily way of living.
Q: Speaking of the upcoming election, are you a fan of any particular 2008 Democratic presidential candidate and their environmental platform?
DiCaprio: I’m still on the fence about it, to tell you the truth. I’ve yet to hear a candidate who has clearly laid out their environmental policy in a way that’s inspiring to me. But I think there’s a lot of time left, and I’m waiting for the right questions to be asked and for these candidates to give really clear responses to what they’re going to do in a tangible way. I did support John Kerry in 2004 and I went with him to 14 different states, because I thought he had an amazing environmental policy. But I’ve yet to hear a candidate that compares in that regard.
Q: Do you feel that you personally are helping change the face of environmentalism?
DiCaprio: Well, there once was a certain stigma about with what an environmentalist was. Years ago, an environmentalist was a tree-hugging, granola-eating hippie that goes around flashing the peace sign all the time. And that’s a negative connotation in some ways, because not all of us can live that lifestyle. Today [environmentalism] is a gigantic movement that crosses cultural and religious boundaries. It needs to be far reaching and unify all of us, even the skeptics out there who don’t believe in global warming. Especially if you live in the United States, how can you argue about not wanting oil from foreign countries? How can you argue with not wanting to be energy-independent, with the need for cleaner air and water? At the end of the day, these are fundamental human rights issues.
To learn more or get involved in Leo’s movement, check out http://www.11thhouraction.com.
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