Long before he went down with the Titanic and went undercover in The Departed, Leonardo DiCaprio made his film debut in horror sequel Critters 3. Today, DiCaprio is widely renowned as one of the greatest actors of his generation, earning five Oscar nominations and one win, for 2015 survival drama The Revenant. DiCaprio first gained worldwide fame for playing romantic lead Jack Dawson in James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic, alongside Kate Winslet’s Rose. Before all that though, DiCaprio faced off with the Krites.
Making one’s feature film debut in a direct to video sequel about carnivorous aliens might not seem like the most auspicious way to start a career, but everyone has to start somewhere, and DiCaprio is far from the only A-list superstar to start out in horror. The Critters franchise at least had some name value to it by Critters 3’s release in 1991, with the original Critters making a large profit at the box office, and quickly earning cult status. Critters 2 didn’t perform as well, but it still had its virtues, leading the sequel to its own cult status today.
Unfortunately, Critters 3 ended up the opposite of acclaimed, and is regarded by some as the worst film in the franchise. Still, the blame for that can’t be placed on DiCaprio, then just a young actor trying to make his way in the cutthroat film business.
Critters 3: Leonardo DiCaprio Made His Film Debut as Josh
While loosely connected to the first two Critters films, Critters 3 switches up the setting from a small town called Grover’s Bend to urban Los Angeles. The Krites arrive in LA after laying eggs inside a car while it’s at a rest stop, unbeknownst to the family traveling in it. Krite hunter Charlie MacFadden is on the creatures’ tail, and they’re desperate to survive. When the family returns to their apartment building, the eggs hatch, and Krite chaos soon ensues. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Josh, the stepson of the building’s unethical landlord, and actually not the central human protagonist. That role goes to Annie, the daughter of the aforementioned traveling family, who strikes up a budding romance with Josh.
Critters 3: Leonardo DiCaprio’s Josh Survived the Krites
Thankfully (or not, depending on one’s point of view) DiCaprio’s Josh survives his encounter with the Krites, as Annie’s family plus Josh, his mom, and a few others are saved by a late arriving Charlie. By that point, Josh’s landlord stepdad had already been eaten by the Krites, but it’s safe to say no one really missed him. Charlie attempts to wipe out the last remaining Krites, but is stopped by the Intergalactic Council, setting up Critters 4, which was shot back-to-back with Critters 3. DiCaprio didn’t return for that film, as it headed to outer space. By 1993, Leonardo DiCaprio was already earning an Oscar nomination for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
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