How a Mates’ Indie Film Turned Into DiCaprio’s Headache
Leonardo DiCaprio’s early indie project Don’s Plum, meant as a tribute to friends, spiralled into controversy and was mostly buried after disputes over its release and content.
It’s rare these days to see a film star who can stand shoulder to shoulder with legends like Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, or Marlon Brando, but Leonardo DiCaprio has managed to carve out a spot among them. Starting out young, he’s built a career packed with hits—think Titanic, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street, Catch Me If You Can, The Revenant, and Django Unchained. What’s set him apart is his knack for picking roles carefully, steering clear of overexposure and mostly working with top-notch directors. That’s helped him avoid many missteps, but even he’s had a few projects he’d rather forget.
After The Beach, which copped a fair bit of flak from critics, DiCaprio teamed up with mates Tobey Maguire and Kevin Connolly for a low-budget black-and-white drama called Don’s Plum. Unlike the big productions he was used to, this one was a simple story about a bunch of young blokes hanging out for a night. Producer Dale Wheatley described it as
“a group of friends saying, ‘Let’s all make a movie…’ In many ways, [it] was a love letter to our friends.”
The film’s one-night format has worked for others—like Before Sunset or My Dinner With Andre—but things didn’t go to plan here.
From Friendly Project to Legal Drama
DiCaprio later claimed he never thought Don’s Plum would see the light of day, saying he’d only agreed to a short film, not a feature. After filming wrapped, he and Maguire moved to block its release, arguing the final cut was different from what they’d signed up for. The director and producer tried to get it out there, but only a trimmed version made it to screens outside North America. At one point, the producer even put it up for free on his own website, but DiCaprio and Maguire quickly shut that down with a legal claim.
So, what made DiCaprio so determined to keep Don’s Plum under wraps? The film’s unscripted style might have hit a bit too close to home, showing the actors in a less-than-flattering light. At a time when the tabloids were already having a field day with stories about him, he probably wasn’t too keen on punters seeing him act like a foul-mouthed, arrogant womaniser on screen.
Legacy and Lingering Shadows
Even though DiCaprio’s had a few duds—Celebrity and J Edgar come to mind—he’s always managed to deliver something interesting. With such a massive list of credits, Don’s Plum is likely to stay in the shadows, which is probably just how he likes it. The whole saga shows that even the biggest stars have projects they’d rather the world forgot, especially when those projects threaten to mess with their carefully managed image.