During his speech, Phoenix also took time to acknowledge one of his other favourite actors: Leonardo DiCaprio. “When I started acting again and going to auditions, I’d get to the final callback and…. [I’d] always lose to this one kid. No actor would ever say his name because it was too much,” he said of DiCaprio. “You have been an inspiration for over 25 years to me and so many people.”

He is my favorite American actor,” Phoenix says of De Niro. “I got the impression from him that he did things in [a] scene, certain behaviors, certain gestures or movements, whether the camera was on him and registering it or not.