15th January, 2003
Leonardo DiCappucino
Source: The Sun

Leonardo DiCaprio has quit booze for a month — and drank only coffee at a late-night party for his new movie.
Leo — one of Hollywood’s biggest party animals — told staff at London’s posh Met Bar he’s on the wagon for the whole of January.
The star moved to the Met Bar after leaving early from the official film bash — where he’d earlier asked for the VIP area to be made non-smoking because one of his pals is asthmatic.
A Met Bar waiter said: “When Leo arrived with his pals we thought we were in for a rowdy night but they were very well behaved. When we asked Leo what he wanted to drink, he asked for a pot of coffee, saying he’s quit boozing for January.”

15th January, 2003
Jennifer Garner Swaps Spit With Leo
Source: People Magazine (by Ann-Marie Cruz)

The Alias star kisses and tells about her onscreen encounter in Catch Me If You Can.

As far as Alias star Jennifer Garner is concerned, her one day on the set of Catch Me If You Can was a buss-man's holiday: She spent the entire time making out with Leonardo DiCaprio. "It was magical," says Garner, 30, who plays a call girl hired by DiCaprio's con man. "We kissed a whole lot. It was only uncomfortable for the first couple of minutes. Then you're just going for it, slobbering all over each other and saying, 'Oh, you have something in your teeth.' I went through a couple of tins of breath mints." Did Garner, who is married to actor Scott Foley, learn any minty-fresh moves? Says Garner with a smile: "Nothing I didn't already know."

16th January, 2003
Catch Me If You Can Box Office News
Source: CMIYC Dreamworks SKG Site

As of Monday, 'Lord of the Rings' stands #2 while Spielberg's 'Catch Me If You Can' is leading the box office race. The beauty of good DreamWorks films is not a massive opening weekend but power to stay on top with small declines. As of Tuesday, 'Catch Me If You Can' is holding on $121.6 million. Expect this weekend earnings to be an estimated $11 million putting it at $135 million.

19th January, 2003
A-List Party In Hollywood Hills
Source: FoxNews (by Roger Friedman)

Among the offerings: a mid-size, A-list gathering at the Hollywood Hills home of producer/director Irwin Winkler in honor of director Martin Scorsese and Gangs of New York. Also on tap were a HBO fete at the Chateau Marmont, a cocktail party for Chicago nominee Richard Gere at super-agent Ed Limato's house and a bloated Hollywood bacchanalia sponsored by Vanity Fair using the name of producer Mike Medavoy to attract big name advertisers. (You want to know why Vanity Fair is so thick every month? They're very clever. By using celebrities as bait, they draw in all the big name fashion, jewelry, liquor and auto ad people and seduce them into forking over their annual budgets. You'd think the stars would have figured this out by now.) But for most it turned out that the Winkler/Gangs fest was more than enough and, in the end, it featured the cream of the evening's offerings. There was Leonardo DiCaprio in his trademark baseball cap trading bon mots with the usually reclusive Gene Hackman in a stunning drawing room. At the same time, Gangs Best Actor nominee Daniel Day Lewis, also not one for parties, was letting the ladies drool over him by the pool as he held forth with Penny Marshall, Carrie Fisher, Michael Caine and director Stephen Frears.
There were no advertisers being buttonholed by magazine publishers, or Graydon Carter's wing-like hair drawing attention away from the guests of honor. There was no backyard tent or publicists with headsets, but there were stars, stars, stars.
Gene Hackman, who plays such forthright guys on screen, is modest and soft-spoken. His wife, Betsy, is tiny and elegant — just lovely. Walking through Winkler's gorgeous mansion — bought with the proceeds of the first two Rocky movies, which he produced (along with all the others) — Hackman told me, "I haven't been to a party like this in 20 years." Indeed, the couple lives in New Mexico and rarely sets foot in Los Angeles.
DiCaprio, spotting him, doffed his cap. "I met you 10 years ago," he said to Gene. "I was 18!" The two men shook hands, and Leo was appropriately respectful of his elder. When someone mentioned to DiCaprio that Day-Lewis was out by the pool having a drink, he said, "You know what? I passed him jogging the other day in Westwood. I was driving by and I saw this guy, with his head down, and I thought, 'is that Daniel Day-Lewis?' I waved to him, and he kind of waved back, but he was pretty intense."

20th January, 2003
Greg's Movie Page: Leonardo DiCaprio Excerpt
Source: Greg's Movie Page/Yahoo Movies

As for Leonardo... well, you know, where do you start? DiCaprio gets a lot of flack for the whole teenybopper thing, but Titanic was five years ago, and way before it came out, DiCaprio was established as a young actor who took on nervy, edgy fare that allowed him to really stretch his acting muscles. Gangs of New York and Catch Me If You Can, both with major, major directors, are perceived as his one-two shots at re-establishing himself as an actor first, star second... and this movie should put him in the adult star territory of the Toms. I think he's got the chops, and over time, people will forget the Tiger Beat thing.