The Basketball Diaries

The Basketball Diaries(1995) Behind the Scenes

Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio) at the right with three of his best friends.
More photos..

Plot
Based on a true story, the film was adapted from Jim Carroll's autobiography "The basketball diaries" tracking the lives of five kids until they become youth. It tracks the life on one in paticular Jim Carroll (Leonardo DiCaprio), a talented writer who goes spiraling down into drug addiction and other issues before making it in the art world.

Getting Leo for the Part
Finding the right actor for the role wasn't easy. Many of Hollywood's young talented actors pursued the part such as Matt Dillon, Johnny Depp and Eric Stoltz. But after watching DiCaprio in the film This Boy's Life the producers Liz Heller ans Scott Kalvert were convinced that they had to get DiCaprio to play the part. DiCaprio however wasn't all that convinced because of some of Kalver's previous work such as directing a Marky Mark video. DiCaprio loved the story so much he eventually signed on.

Leonardo DiCaprio playing Jim Carroll, who gets addicted to Heroin.

"The story is such an honest and straight-from-the-heart depiction of this kid going through such an insane roller coaster ride on heroin. I just fell in love with the honesty, the detail...and the way Jim wrote it."

Preparing for the Role
From the start, Leonardo DiCaprio knew that this film would be a real challenge for him. Although he knew the basics he had gotten some help.
"I relied on a counselor to learn about the specific behavioral nuances"
Filming Tricks
When DiCaprio had to make it look like his character was sniffing cocaine, he sniffed Ovaltine and later scrape his nose clean with Q-Tips.

"I think this movie shows how easy it is to get addicted, and how once you give yourself a reason to take that first hit you can get in over your head. This film shows the consequences of that first hit."
--Leonardo DiCaprio

Pages created and maintained by Stella (celebtalk@writeme.com), Copyright Š1998 Movie images and photos are taken without permission of their creators, they are solely owned by their respective company's. No infringement of rights is meant or implied. This site is run non-profit for fan purposes only.