🎙️ Mostly Film: Cruise vs. DiCaprio – American Made & Killers of the Flower Moon

This week on Mostly Film, we’re stacking two Hollywood heavyweights against each other: Tom Cruise in American Made (2017) and Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).

We start with Cruise, who reunited with Doug Liman to play real-life pilot Barry Seal—a hustler caught between the CIA and the Medellín Cartel. From writing the role specifically with Cruise in mind to letting him do his own flying stunts, we dig into the wild casting backstory. Critics praised his charm and energy, calling it one of his most refreshing (and risky) roles of the 2010s.

Then we move to DiCaprio, who flipped the script—literally—in Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Originally meant to play the heroic FBI agent, DiCaprio chose instead to embody Ernest Burkhart, a morally torn man complicit in the Osage murders. His decision reshaped the story into a darker, more intimate character study. Critics highlighted his unflattering physicality, emotional vulnerability, and magnetic chemistry with Lily Gladstone as the tragic heart of the film.

Two very different stars. Two true stories. Two performances that pushed each actor outside their comfort zone. The question is: who pulled off the greater risk?