Now more than 30 years into his career, Leonardo DiCaprio has evolved into an actor that many younger talents look to for inspiration, such is the way he seamlessly navigated the often-difficult transition from talented child star to established talent, one that’s now regarded as one of the best around.

The Academy Award winner is one of the few remaining names who reside among the Hollywood A-list that can draw an audience in to see their latest project based on nothing but their involvement alone, with one of DiCaprio’s own formative influences being an iconic star who was well on course to have the same effect on audiences before their life was tragically cut short.

East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant helped solidify the legend of James Dean, who continues to be a towering figure in cinema history despite a big screen career that lasted just five years. In an interview with MTV, DiCaprio revealed the influence the former had on him as a youngster trying to make their way in the industry when asked to name the movies that made him fall in love with cinema. He said: “When I got to become an actor, watching that very vulnerable James Dean in East of Eden, who just blew me away.”

The regular Martin Scorsese collaborator again praised East of Eden as a formative experience when speaking to GQ, in addition to naming his soon-to-be muse’s Taxi Driver: “I never said, ‘This is what I’m going to aspire to be,’ because at that age, it’s something that’s so beyond anything that’s a possibility,” he said. “But certainly it was something like, ‘Wow, I would love to give a performance even close to that someday.’”

East of Eden left DiCaprio “incredibly moved”, as he told Deadline, noting that “there was something so raw and powerful about that performance”. As well as the way in which it “broke my heart”, the star was struck by Dean’s Caleb Trask and “his desperation to be loved”. In what almost proved to be a fitting display of his affection, Michael Mann wanted DiCaprio to star as his hero in a biopic but lamented that “Leo was too young”.

The other film that made DiCaprio fall in love with the art form couldn’t be any more different on every conceivable level, though, but the magic of the cinematic experience nonetheless left him in floods of tears when he initially laid eyes on a classic creature feature. He said: “The first film that I remember seeing was the black and white original King Kong with my dad downtown, and bursting into tears, and falling in love with movies at that point.”

While East of Eden definitely comes across as the type of film that would capture the imagination of a young DiCaprio, it’s fair to say he hasn’t starred in anything quite like King Kong. Either way, each of them left behind a mark that would inspire him.