<p>I think di Caprio is a surprisingly good actor. Have you seen his early, Oscar-nominated performance in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”? (A very good Lasse Hallstrom film, with Johnny Depp and an excellent supporting cast.)</p>
<p>I think “Titanic” hurt di Caprio’s career in that he became an enormous celebrity afterwards, and the intense media coverage certainly never focused on his acting skills. He’s given good performances in “This Boys’ Life,” “The Quick and the Dead,” and “Catch Me if You Can.” Imo, he and Kate Winslet made “Titanic” bearable (if only just so). I’ll agree that period pieces such as “Iron Mask” are not his strong suit. I couldn’t stand his “Romeo + Juliet,” either, though that was a contemporary version.</p>
<p>Some excellent actors are just confounded by period pieces. My pet peeve is the 90’s version of “Little Women,” in which three gifted actresses - Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, and Claire Danes - were unsettlingly contemporary and therefore unconvincing. (I was also bugged by the fact that they were playing Jo, Marmee, and Beth as the director conceived them and not at all as Louisa May Alcott created them. Around here we don’t mess with 10-year-old girls’ favorite books.) Somehow, though, Kirsten Dunst was just right.</p>
<p>We have tickets to the current P&P at 12:45 today. I’ll be curious to see what my Austen authority thinks.</p>