Marcel Winatschek

The Face of a Man Who Has Lost Enough Times to Know Exactly How It Feels

At some point Leonardo DiCaprio’s annual Oscar loss stopped being funny and started being something almost mythological. He was nominated for The Wolf of Wall Street this year—a performance of sustained, sweating, howling commitment—and he lost again. The photo series making the rounds captures the exact moment he hears the other name called: that particular stillness, the fractional collapse of something behind the eyes, performed in front of everyone. I’ve seen it enough times now that it’s stopped being funny. At this point I’d almost rather he just burn the whole building down and film it for his next role.