The war on terror is a "horrible situation" and the conflicts which rage around the middle east are "a complex web of problems we have created out there" according to Leonardo DiCaprio.
Talking with stv.tv about Ridley Scott's new film, Body of Lies, in which he stars alongside Russell Crowe, the one time Titanic star renewed his new-found serious actor credentials with a thoughtful anaylsis of the cat-and-mouse game played by CIA agents, terrorists, politicians and other mavericks in the troubled region.
"You're responsible, if you make a movie about a subject like this, to be as honest as possible about it" he said. "We are showing the difficulties of wartime here and we wanted to present these realites as best we could."
DiCaprio spent hours with the journalist David Ignatius, on whose book the film is based. "He helped me understand what it would be like for a CIA operative in the middle east and introduced me to some real players in the game."
The film remains a piece of entertainment rather than a documentary. But DiCaprio hopes that the film "may start some secondary conversations".
But he drew great encouragement from the election of Barack Obama, not just for the United States. "A new generation of people have spoken. They have elected a president who will completely change policies not only for the United States but it's going to have a resounding effect on the rest of the world."
DiCaprio has recently appeared in other hard-hitting dramas such as Blood Diamond, about the illegal African diamond trade and also based on real events, and Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York. As one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, he seems determined to leave behind the pretty-boy image that dogged him for years after Titanic.
