... that Leo DiCaprio really was a great actor, not just a pretty face. But this movie was made the year after Titanic's success probably to capitalize on just that - that DiCaprio was a pretty face that made teen girls swoon - before the Titanic spell wore off. Because he couldn't possibly act...could he??
Seeing that it is basically exploiting DiCaprio's power over teen girls, the script does not ask too much of him. He is asked to portray the two opposite personalities of twin French royal brothers in a take on the "Man in the Iron Mask" story. "Bad twin" is reigning Louis XIV who does not care about his people and cares only for pleasure and seducing pretty girls. "Good twin" is living in a prison cell with an iron mask that covers his entire face, so that nobody will know Louis XIV has a twin and thus plan a possible coup, which is exactly what happens. Complications ensue.
There is a twist that you can see coming from a mile away, and everybody overacts, including the esteemed John Malkovich. Why did he take on this project anyways? And why do high taxes mean that the crops fail? And why do the French people expect the government to feed them? Inquiring minds want to know.
At any rate, a fun look back at the fork in the road DiCaprio was about to face in his acting career, just now as he is starring in a film about Hollywood and American culture facing a "fork in the road" - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Seeing that it is basically exploiting DiCaprio's power over teen girls, the script does not ask too much of him. He is asked to portray the two opposite personalities of twin French royal brothers in a take on the "Man in the Iron Mask" story. "Bad twin" is reigning Louis XIV who does not care about his people and cares only for pleasure and seducing pretty girls. "Good twin" is living in a prison cell with an iron mask that covers his entire face, so that nobody will know Louis XIV has a twin and thus plan a possible coup, which is exactly what happens. Complications ensue.
There is a twist that you can see coming from a mile away, and everybody overacts, including the esteemed John Malkovich. Why did he take on this project anyways? And why do high taxes mean that the crops fail? And why do the French people expect the government to feed them? Inquiring minds want to know.
At any rate, a fun look back at the fork in the road DiCaprio was about to face in his acting career, just now as he is starring in a film about Hollywood and American culture facing a "fork in the road" - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.