Leonardo DiCaprio has often alternated between quieter stretches and especially active years throughout his career, sometimes releasing multiple films within a short span. After returning to theaters this fall in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” the Oscar winner is now lining up another notably busy period. Next year, DiCaprio will move straight into two major productions, marking his first time taking on multiple projects in a single year since 2012.
A Prestige Thriller and a Crime Epic Await
DiCaprio’s most recent picture, “One Battle After Another,” marked a significant moment in his career, reuniting him with auteur-level storytelling under Paul Thomas Anderson. The black comedy action thriller, inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, saw DiCaprio play an ex-revolutionary pulled back into violence while trying to protect his daughter. Shot in VistaVision and praised for its ambition and performances, the film earned critical acclaim and became Anderson’s highest-grossing movie to date, despite its hefty budget.
That momentum now carries directly into “What Happens at Night,” Martin Scorsese’s next feature, which pairs DiCaprio with Jennifer Lawrence. Adapted from Peter Cameron’s ghostly, dreamlike novel, the movie follows an American couple navigating a surreal and unsettling European town while attempting to adopt a baby.
With Apple Original Films in talks to finance the project and a January start planned, the movie continues the long-running creative partnership between Scorsese and DiCaprio, who last collaborated on “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Running parallel to that prestige drama is “Heat 2,” Michael Mann’s long-anticipated follow-up to his 1995 crime classic. Based on Mann’s bestselling novel co-written with Meg Gardiner, the picture explores events before and after the original “Heat,” expanding the story across decades and continents. DiCaprio is set to take on a central role, with Christian Bale circling a major part, as Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists prepare to launch production.
Taken together, the two projects highlight the range DiCaprio is leaning into at this stage of his career, moving from intimate psychological storytelling with Scorsese to large-scale crime mythology under Mann. For an actor known for patience and selectivity, taking on two major films in one year marks a notable break from routine and one of his most closely watched career moves in years.