Poor Leo DiCaprio. Late last year, the Revenant star’s girlfriend turned 25, so they had to break up. Then, in his acceptance speech for a Golden Globe award in January, DiCaprio caught flack for trying to make his latest film into an issue movie about the rights of indigenous peoples. (It isn’t.)
And now, the embattled aging heartthrob has one further indignity to suffer. Mashable reports that a group of Russians have started an “Oscar for Leo” campaign out of pity for DiCaprio, who hasn’t yet won that coveted golden statuette.
Campaign organizer Tatyana Yegorova told TASS that she and her fellow DiCaprio fans, who all live in the northeastern Yakutia province, are collecting gold and silver to melt into their own award for the actor. They believe his turn in The Revenant deserves recognition—and if the Academy doesn’t oblige on February 28, “Oscar for Leo” will.
Yegorova says the award will measure at least 30 centimeters high and be ready in two weeks’ time. It will feature a man holding a choron, a traditional Yakut vessel for drinking, which will be “a manifestation of people’s love for the actor.” At press time, more than 100 people have donated to the cause. The Academy may never let DiCaprio live his best life, but thankfully, the people of Yakutia always will.
