Leonardo DiCaprio says he won't step behind the camera out of respect for Martin Scorsese.
The One Battle After Another actor, who has starred in six movies directed by the Oscar winner, shared his disinterest in filmmaking during a recent conversation with Scorsese for TIME.
DiCaprio, 51, said that his main regret in working with Scorsese, 83, is that he was "so focused" on being an actor but "would have loved to be much more of a voyeur."
"Some people have asked me if I wanted to direct," DiCaprio said during the Dec. 10 event, seen around the 11-minute mark of the video below. "I’m like, 'I would never want to direct.' 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 have loved to have observed that process behind the camera a lot more," he continued.
While the Academy Award winner won't be picking up the camera, he has served as an executive producer, including for the Scorsese-directed Killers of the Flower Moon. DiCaprio also played protagonist Ernest Burkhart in the 2023 historical drama.
DiCaprio is reportedly set to star in Scorsese's next drama, an adaptation of book What Happens at Night, which will also feature Jennifer Lawrence.
The actor also ruled out directing in a 2016 interview with Variety.
"I've been so blessed to work with some great filmmakers, that I’m probably cursed to probably ever work as a director myself,” DiCaprio said at the time. "I don’t think I would be able to compare to what I've seen. There are so many things that come into play when you make a movie. I really don’t know how they do it."
