23 Greatest Leo Struts

Original

The Backstory: This rare shot of happy chappy Leonardo DiCaprio was taken on the set of Inception .

In contrast to the actor's furrowed-brow intensity on-screen, this shows him in unusually high spirits. Maybe he's nailed a take, perhaps he's figured out the film's ending.

Either way, the crew looks pretty surprised by his laidback groove. Same goes for the world's bloggers, who quickly devised a new Internet meme: to find the most incogruous, amusing and downright bizarre locations for Leo to strut his stuff.

It's a bit like Where's Wally? but with DiCaprio doing his thang...

Inception poster

Why It’s Genius: Let's be honest, the original po-faced poster needed lightening up.

The added advantage of this is that the serious expressions of the other cast members work perfectly. While Ellen Page is casting him a furtive (appreciative?) glance, the guys are going out of their way not to stare at his gambolling.

(500) Days of Summer

Why It’s Genius: Rising legend Joseph Gordon-Levitt based his performance as Leo's wingman in Inception on the star's sharp-suited, ultra-efficient model.

But he'd proved himself capable of a lighter, more frolicsome persona in last year's (500) Days of Summer . So it seems apt that strutting Leo would come and lend a hand to that film's showstopping musical number.

Desperado

Why It’s Genius: The 'walk away from an explosion' set-piece is one of the must-haves of the Hollywood action movie, but who hasn't thought it could be improved with the addition of a prancing DiCaprio?

Here, one of the finest examples of the walk-away gets a makeover, helped no end by the possibility that Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas are trying to get away from weird stalker Leo.

Star Wars

Why It’s Genius: By law, all memes must reference Star Wars at some point.

It's the sheer craziness of Leo-as-Vader that makes this one, although the most bizarre element is how pleased Leo appears to be with the fact he's just punched Princess Leia in the back of the head.

The Exorcist

Why It’s Genius: All too often, a bad Photoshop job will plonk the meme into a photo with completely different lighting and texture. Here, real care and attention has been paid to fit Leo into the image's monochrome menace.

Nowhere is DiCaprio's Jack Nicholson-like demonic grin better shown than here. For all the world, it looks like he's leaving the scene of the Satanic crime for poor old Max Von Sydow to mop up.

North By Northwest

Why It's Genius: One of the joys of Hitchcock's classic chaser is seeing suave, smug Cary Grant reduced to a flapping loon by a rogue pilot.

So there's much subversive pleasure in seeing Leo treat imminent death by crop-dust as one big lark.

King Kong

Why It's Genius: This one's all about the scale.

Tiny next to Peter Jackson's battling behemoths, it looks like Kong's scrap with the T-Rex has temporarily been postponed to allow Leo past, like a duckling on a zebra crossing.

No wonder the ape looks pissed off at DiCaprio's guerilla tactics.

Doom

Why It's Genius: Who says this meme thing needs to be restricted to movies?

Depositing Leo amongst the warriors in the famous first-person shooter, even down to pixellating and recolouring the actor to fit in, proves that dancing DiCaprio can fit in anywhere.

All the Single Ladies

Why It's Genius: Beyonce's leotard-and-legs routine is so copied it's practically a meme in its own right, so why shouldn't Leo - or, technically, Leos - join in?

It also suggests the unlikely prospect of a new head-cocking, fist-punching dance craze where we're all wearing smiley Leo masks.

The Human Centipede

Why It's Genius: Leo's strut is so determined that nowhere is off limits.

Even the queasily intimate details of Tom Six's sewn-together shocker are just another tourist attraction for this rambunctious rambler.

Quantum of Solace

Why It's Genius: Subtle one, this, although it proves that the 007 silhouette is fast becoming a test case for a durable meme.

Curiously, even through a huge amount of detail - namely, the swinging arm - is lost to the shadow, it's still recognisable as Leo.

The Last Airbender

Why It's Genius: Once upon a time, Chris Nolan and M. Night Shyamalan were considered cinematic equals.

But since Inception trounced The Last Airbender critically and commercially, the two couldn't be further apart in reputation, so Leo's presence here is just rubbing salt into the wound.

Batman Begins

Why It's Genius: Speaking of Nolan, Leo's probably regretting now that he didn't jump on the director's bandwagon earlier.

Well, fear not... 'cause here the little imp has colonised the Bat-signal and turned it into a call to strutters everywhere.

Lost

Why It's Genius: Inception is fast rivalling JJ. Abrams' head-spin of a plane-crash TV epic for fanboy theories and worship.

So having grinning Leo undermine one of the series' most poignant, piercing moments is akin to a declaration of war.

Inception

Why It's Genius: Where most of struttin' Leo's appearances are in other people's films, it was only a matter of time before the image was used to subvert the source.

This pic in particular offers the tantalising prospect that DiCaprio's dream-stealer Dom Cobb is a sadist who takes perverse delight in fucking with Ellen Page's mind.

Jurassic Park

Why It's Genius: The sheer nonchalance of Leo's strut gives it real incongruity in action scenes.

Here, it's all about the contrast between panicky Sam Neill and DiCaprio's unflappable stroll. Subtext: you think dinosaurs have the 'wow' factor? Check out the acid-fried shit Nolan's come up with.

Punch Out!

Why It's Genius: It's delightfully obscure. Of all the pop-culture contexts DiCaprio could be dropped into, he ends up in a retro Nintendo boxing game.

It also makes perfect use of Leo's lackadaisical, faraway look. Yes, it does look like somebody's knocked him senseless, doesn't it?

The Silence of the Lambs

Why It's Genius: Bug-eyed Hannibal Lecter and grinning loony Leo? It looks like some demented new take on the 'odd couple' sitcom.

Bonus points for taking the piss out the obsessive security protocols surrounding Lecter's cell, since DiCaprio is clearly about to strut the fuck outta there.

The Last Exorcism

Why It's Genius: New opportunities for Leo to strut his stuff are coming up all the time.

Case in point: what's an ambiguous tale of a possessed teenager on-screen can so easily become proof that DiCaprio is the devil himself.

Reservoir Dogs

Why It's Genius: There's real kinship between Inception's sartorial cool and Tarantino's suited-and-booted gangsters.

All it takes here is a canny recolouring of DiCaprio's jacket and - bingo - he's Mr Cobb-alt.

Thriller

Why It's Genius: When you stop to think about it, Leo's ubiquitous presence is pretty spooky.

With those moves, it was only a matter of time before he usurped Jacko in the horror-dance stakes.

Shutter Island

Why It's Genius: Scorsese's thriller pushes DiCaprio to the limits of his sanity, so it's a cute notion that he might start seeing himself strolling past.

Kudos on the retitling, too.

Spider-man 3

Why It's Genius: Until Leo came along, Tobey Maguire fancied himself as cinema's crowned champion of the cocky strut.

Ladies and gentlemen, a baton is being passed here. Leo is faster, more original and altogether struttier...and Maguire knows it.