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Boris Johnson has described how Leonardo DiCaprio “quirked his pace” to walk away from him after a mortifying conversation in which he recited lines from his films in a “South African” accent.
The former prime minister found himself starstruck as he came face-to-face with the Hollywood actor at the Cop 26 summit in November 2021.
As DiCaprio began walking away, Johnson panicked and began spouting out quotes said by his character in the film Blood Diamond, in which the politician said he knew “by heart”.
“As he quickened his pace, I found myself speaking in a thick South African accent and quoting some of his greatest lines,” Mr Johnson wrote in his new memoir, Unleashed.
“At the sound of the UK PM impersonating DiCaprio impersonating a South African gunrunner, the film star checked his stride. He looked at me appraisingly. ‘I will see you later, my friend’, he said, and stalked off.”
The 2006 political war thriller saw DiCaprio playing the role of Danny Archer, a gunrunner and Border War veteran jailed for trying to smuggle diamonds into Liberia during the Sierra Leone civil war.
Johnson recalled the moments leading up to the cringe encounter, in which he thought DiCaprio was walking towards him to discuss climate change issues. It later came to light that he instead just wanted to use the toilet within the presidential suite.
Mr Johnson said the A-lister was “taller and bulkier than the screen idol” he had grown used to seeing and wrote: “He was ten yards away, striding towards me down the prefab corridor, right here in the convention centre where the world’s leaders had come together to stop the world from being fried.
“He was getting closer. Yes, he seemed to have some business with us, little old us – the UK presidency of the UN conference on climate change, known as COP 26. What could he want?”
Mr Johnson then struck up the short and painful conversation with the keen climate activist after he emerged from the bathroom.
DiCaprio appeared to have more friendly conversations with other British figures at the summit, including a meeting with the then Prince of Wales, Charles.
DiCaprio has donated millions to environmental organisations and backed green adventures ventures. When he won his first Oscar in 2016 for his role in The Revenant, he declared climate change to be “the most urgent threat facing our entire species”.
Johnson’s dazzled response to DiCaprio is unsurprising given his previous declaration of admiration for the actor’s work. Earlier in his book, he recalls watching The Revenant whilst spending three days in intensive care as he battled Covid-19 in April 2020.
