Leonardo DiCaprio may get his Oscar yet…from fans in Siberia.
A group of Russians in far northeastern Yakutia is gathering gold and silver that will be melted down and made into an Oscar statuette for the American film star — because they feel bad that he hasn’t won the award yet.
The woman behind the “Oscar for Leo” campaign is Tatyana Yegorova, who told Russia’s TASS news agency that she and others had discussed the idea before. But after seeing DiCaprio’s latest film, The Revenant — for which he is nominated for Best Actor — they decided it was time to finally follow through.
“Yakutia praises high-quality cinema and considers DiCaprio to be an actor who can inspire and delight his audiences,” she told Tass.
The Yakutia version of the Oscar statuette, the symbol of the Academy Awards, will vary slightly from the original. Instead of grasping a sword, the Yakutia Oscar figure’s head will look towards the sky, because “when a person looks at the sky, the stars, only then does he realize his true purpose and become a part of nature,” Yegovora said.
The figure will also hold a Choron, a traditional three-legged goblet “symbolizing peace and expressing the people’s love for the actor,” according to Yegorova.
Yegovora said some 100 fans have donated to the cause so far. The statuette will be cast in silver and stand around 12 inches tall, depending on the amount of donations.
The “Oscar for Leo” group has not yet figured out how to get the statuette to DiCaprio, but Yegovora said they will figure out a way.
Currently, DiCaprio has six Oscar nominations to his name: Best Actor for The Revenant, The Wolf of Wall Street, Blood Diamond and The Aviator; Best Supporting Actor for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape; and Best Picture for producingWolf. Each year, he’s gone home empty handed. He’ll get another chance at the gold at this year’s Academy Awards on Feb. 28 in Los Angeles.
