Leonardo DiCaprio Reveals Brad Pitt Mistook His Parents for Extras on Hollywood Set

Even for Hollywood royalty, real life can sometimes blend too perfectly with fiction. Leonardo DiCaprio recently shared a hilarious memory from the set of 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' where his costar Brad Pitt refused to believe that the people standing on the sidewalk were actually DiCaprio’s parents.

Leonardo DiCaprio Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Set Anecdote

In a fresh interview with Time magazine on January 2, 2026, DiCaprio recalled driving past Musso & Frank’s onto Hollywood Boulevard with Pitt. When he pointed out his father and stepmother, Pitt dismissed him with a laugh, saying, "Ha, ha. Yeah, right." It turns out the elder DiCaprios looked so at home in the 1969-set environment that they were mistaken for paid background actors.

"I know they look like they’re extras in this movie, but that’s really them!" DiCaprio told his costar at the time. He explained that his parents didn't need a costume department to fit into Quentin Tarantino's vision of the late sixties—they simply wore their everyday clothes.

The Authentic Hippie Style of the DiCaprio Family

DiCaprio’s father, George, was a fixture of the hippie counterculture and the underground art movement in Los Angeles during the 70s. Combined with his stepmother’s Sikh attire, the pair embodied the era's spirit so naturally that they became indistinguishable from the carefully curated set pieces. DiCaprio called it an "amazing moment" that he'll never forget.