Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his first Oscar for his performance in The Revenant on Sunday night, after four previous unsuccessful nominations, then used his moment on stage to warn about his favorite cause – climate change.
The 41-year-old actor used his lengthy acceptance speech to deliver a lecture on the subject, and was able to speak for a longer period than other winners when the producers failed to play ‘wrap-it-up’ music as he went well past his allotted time of 45 seconds.
He told the audience, ‘Climate change is real, it’s the most urgent threat facing our species. We need help around the world.’
DiCaprio led the winners at the glittering 88th Academy Awards in Beverly Hills, which saw Room’s Brie Larson take home Best Actress and Spotlight scooping the coveted Best Picture prize.
Leo’s win prompted a standing ovation at the awards, and also became the most Tweeted about Oscar’s minute – overtaking Ellen’s group selfie from 2014. Speaking to GMA anchor Robin Roberts immediately after the show, DiCaprio said he was ‘very moved’ by the reaction.
The other main winners were big budget blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road, the biggest success of the night with six accolades. Best Supporting Actor went to Mark Rylance for Bridge Of Spies and The Danish Girl’s Alicia Vikander was awarded Best Supporting Actress.
Addressing the star-studded audience, he said: ‘Making The Revenant was about man’s relationship to the natural world…climate change is real.
‘It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating. We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but for all people.’
‘Let us not take our planet for granted,’ he concluded. ‘I do not take tonight for granted.’
However, despite this stance, it has been noted that DiCaprio has still maintained quite the jet-setting lifestyle for both business and pleasure. He is known to frequently charter private planes and hire enormous party yachts – including one owned by a UAE oil tycoon.
He has tried to counteract this with other measures not quite so fitting of a Hollywood A-lister including driving electric cars and riding bicycles.