Five years after Titanic, Leanardo DiCaprio is back - in two major films. Entertainment Writer Steve Pratt finds out why he's been avoiding the limelight.

For Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio the London premiere of his new film was a reminder of the Leo-mania that followed in the wake of hit film Titanic sailing into the record books as the highest-grossing movie of all time.

A 2,000-strong crowd, many of them teenage girls, jostled for a glimpse as he walked along the red carpet at the West End cinema screening Gangs of New York. Some were rewarded with a smile, others with a quick word or even an autograph.

"I love you Leo," read one placard, symptomatic of the adulation directed at him in the post-Titanic period. The epic achieved that distinction partly through teenage girls going to the film again and again to watch the doomed, on-board love affair of DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

The actor, now 28 but still wearing the youthful air of a teenage rebel with a cause, was stunned by the hysterical reception at the Gangs premiere. "It left me dizzy," he says. "It was intense. This has been the biggest crowd so far."

He must have thought - certainly hoped - that such behaviour was a thing of the past, having spent the past five years trying to escape from Titanic. Before that, he'd been a young actor gathering acclaim for performances in films including This Boy's Life and What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, which earned him an Oscar nomination.

Titanic changed all that. He couldn't go anywhere, do anything, go out with anyone, without flash bulbs popping and gossip columnists scribbling. "There's no handbook on how to deal with it. It was up to me to make my own decisions," he says.

"The fallout from that movie was something that was otherworldly, it heavily changed my life. Certainly after Titanic I was focusing on things that had nothing to do with the art."

For someone who wants to be "the best possible actor", this spotlight was not only unwelcome but could have affected his chances of attracting the type of work he wanted.

Neither of his initial choices post-Titanic, The Man In The Iron Mask and The Beach, did well at the box office. Two years later, DiCaprio is back on screen. Like buses, you don't see a Leo film for ages and then two come along together. Gangs Of New York and Catch Me If You Can opened within days of each other in the US.

He couldn't have asked for more prestigious directors, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, or more contrasting roles. One as an Irish immigrant leader's son looking for revenge on the man who killed his father, and the other as a charming con man working as an airline pilot, doctor and lawyer.

For someone who'd prefer to keep himself to himself, he's been exposing himself to the public gaze a great deal in recent weeks. He knows he has a lot riding on reaction to both movies, so has been busy promoting them.

While Daniel Day-Lewis has collected the best reviews for Gangs, DiCaprio himself outshines co-star Tom Hanks in Catch Me If You Can. He's earned a Golden Globe nomination, finding himself up against Day-Lewis in that category.

The British actor is renowned for immersing himself in roles, taking method acting to the extreme. This must have made life interesting as he was playing a violent gang boss, nicknamed Bill the Butcher for his expertise with a sharp instruments.

"Certainly, the acute attention to detail he has is infectious," says DiCaprio. "He was the Butcher on set every day, he embodied that man. The only thing that would have worried me was if I felt I couldn't approach him to talk about the scene and the direction of the characters. At no point did I feel I was ever held back from doing that.

"What can I say about Mr Day-Lewis? I take my hat off to him. He's truly inspiring for a young actor. His commitment and his focus, you feel his energy on set and can't help but become a better actor."

This seriousness from someone known to enjoy partying is a surprise, as is his whole restrained persona as he sips coffee while, next to him, director Martin Scorsese talks energetically. When his turn comes to answer questions, he does so thoughtfully and quietly.

Working with both Scorsese and Spielberg make him the envy of every young Hollywood actor. Comparing the two isn't something that occupies his thoughts.

"In all fairness, they were completely unique experiences. They were worlds apart. Gangs was a big sweeping epic that was two years in the making, and Catch Me If You Can was very different.

"They are both masters of their craft, but different film-makers. You learn different things from each director you work with."

What he learnt on Gangs Of New York, which is set in the mid-1800s, were details of a neglected piece of US history. "I knew nothing of the time period," says the actor. "I had read history books about the Civil War but the Draft Riots was a segment of American history edited out of my history books.

"The only people I have talked to who truly know a lot about this period, which had the biggest urban riot in American history, are real true natives of New York. My father knew something about it, and some of his friends. For the most part, it was Marty's process of resurrecting these fossils from the past that no one knew anything about. These Celtic warlords that battled it out on the streets of New York."

The Five Points district, where the story is set, was recreated over 15 acres of backlot at Cinecetta Studios in Rome and helped transport the actor to a bygone age.

"Seeing extras in period costumes coming from the underworld of New York, you couldn't help but feel you'd been transported back in time. We started to form our own little cliques as far as the gangs were concerned. Things happened organically like that. It was like this huge opera stage we had to work on," he says.

The impressive fight sequences were choreographed like a ballet, with DiCaprio and the other performers practising moves over and over again.

"Every day I had bruises all over my body. Half my head was black and blue," he says. "It comes with the territory. You can't expect to do a film like Gangs Of New York and not go home with some bruises and scars. Daniel broke his nose doing one sequence.

"But as hard as this film was, and shooting was very difficult at times, I remember Marty coming to me at the seventh month mark and saying, 'Sorry, we're taking a long time, are you okay?'. I said, 'Look, I'd be here for another year if you asked me to and I think everyone uniformly felt like that. We were truly happy to be there."

* Gangs Of New York (18) is showing in cinemas now. Catch Me If You Can (12A) opens on January 31.