Leonardo DiCaprio at the premiere of The 11th Hour. Alex Berliner © Berliner Studio/BEImages
When celebrities embrace environmental concerns, cranky naysayers pop up like toadstools after a rainstorm. But the mansions and private jets those critics seize upon, while easy targets, might not be the real problem. It might just be that green-leaning celebrities and their handlers need to open themselves up to harder questions from their media allies first, to help forestall that crankfest.
At a recent press conference for The 11th Hour, Leonardo DiCaprio’s eco-documentary, the ballroom of the Regent Beverly Wilshire wasn’t packed with journalists eager to take a swipe at the star and his producers, but rather with a random assortment of starstruck bloggers, earnest greenies, and a couple of bored-looking representatives of the mainstream media.
According to a reporter I met in the elevator, the Warner Entertainment office had set up a tiered system where media outlets that could provide some free ad time or space for the film got face time with DiCaprio, those with smaller budgets or sterner editors got to participate in roundtable dis... Read more
