Leonardo DiCaprio to be in Delhi in October to profile for a documentary film

Having launched conservation projects in 40-odd countries through his foundation, the billionaire star and UN messenger of peace on climate change now asks, “how far into the future we may have ****ed ourselves already, and how much time we have to find solutions and put them in place before this whole ecosystem collapses”.

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With The Revenant, a pre-Industrial Revolution period drama set in the wilderness of northern Canada ready for release in December, DiCaprio and crew are expected in Delhi on October 29 for four days. The government, say sources in the Ministry of External Affairs, has already cleared the application for filming.

“Our focus will be Narain’s work establishing the principle of equity in the framework convention on climate change,” said New York-based Insurgent Media in its application — an argument that has been India’s refrain ahead of the Paris climate summit in November.

When contacted, an Insurgent Media official said over phone from New York that “the project is yet to be announced” and nobody was “authorised to confirm any details” at this stage. Narain is away in Johannesburg and DiCaprio’s publicist is yet to respond.

According to the application, Insurgent Media (of ‘Woody Allen: A Documentary’ fame) will make the film in association with Diamond Docs (The Cove) and Appian Way (The Wolf of Wall Street).

Eight years after his The 11th Hour delved into the issue of climate change, brainstorming with the likes of Stephen Hawking and Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, DiCaprio’s second feature-length documentary production builds “on unique tent pole moments of access, the kind only Leonardo DiCaprio can manage. Candid conversations with the people who move and shake this world, as well as the innovators trying to find solutions to fix our global climate crisis.”

The actor, who started the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 “with the mission of protecting the world’s last wild places”, has been funding and implementing a slew of conservation projects across the world — from saving key species like sharks, tigers and elephants to protecting indigenous tribes and communities.

As recently as July, the foundation raised $40 million to save the environment, with bidders snapping up the actor’s Rolex and his Andy Warhol collection and a home on his Belize island besides private concerts with Elton John and Arctic expeditions with Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Meanwhile, Sunita Narain said: “I have been in touch with the film makers for the past year about their plans to make a film on climate change. They wanted me to particularly talk about our concerns about the need for ambition and equity in climate negotiations. They have just informed me that they will be in Delhi on 29 and 30th and will come over to CSE for a sit down interview.”