NEW YORK -- With two equally major films rolling out for the holidays, Leonardo DiCaprio is flying high.

On Dec. 20, DiCaprio stars opposite Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz in Martin Scorsese's powerful drama Gangs of New York, based on the rivalry between established Euro-Americans and new immigrants from the 1840s through to the 1860s.

On Christmas Day, he stars opposite Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can.

He's already agreed to star as millionaire eccentric Howard Hughes in The Aviator, which will re-team him with Scorsese, and he's signed with Baz Luhrmann for the epic historical drama Alexander the Great.

"I'll do The Aviator first and then Alexander. Both those movies should take at least eight months so I'm essentially booked up for the next two years," says DiCaprio.

According to Scorsese, it was DiCaprio who sent him the offer for The Aviator.

"I spent a lot of time on Gangs of New York," says Scorsese, who sunk his $2-million salary for Gangs into the film's budget, "so now I have to become a director-for-hire, and I can't think of a better choice than to work again with Leo.

"I'm 60 years old, I consider it an incredible stroke of luck to come across an actor like Leo, who has a similar trust and honesty that I found in Robert DeNiro and Daniel Day-Lewis, and I'm going to get paid well for working with him."


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