The Russian Leonardo DiCaprio in a makeover to look like Leonardo DiCaprio
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Version 0 of 1. A Russian security guard who bears an uncanny resemblance to Leonardo DiCaprio – if Leo packed on 80 pounds – is engaged in a month-long makeover to become more like his American lookalike. Roman Burtsev, 33, a security officer in the town of Podolsk, just outside Moscow, achieved notoriety last month when photographs circulated on the Internet that made him look like DiCaprio’s schlumpier cousin. Now the slightly overweight guard has been adopted by a Moscow television station that is playing Pygmalion ahead of the Oscars. Burtsev has gotten voice lessons, gone on an ice-skating date with “Natasha” (unsuccessful – he’s a bit out of shape) and posed for photos with a line of women at a Moscow mall who wanted a chance to trade places with Kate Winslet and be enveloped in DiCaprio’s arms on a mock prow of the Titanic. Whether he can get himself into shape before the Academy Awards on Feb. 28 remains to be seen, but we wouldn’t bet too many rubles on it.
DiCaprio, the real one, has said in the past that he is “half-Russian” because he has two Russian grandparents. His desire to play the role of Vladimir Lenin in a movie drew angry yowls from a marginal Communist Party in St. Petersburg in January. DiCaprio has also said he’d love to play the role of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Whether he wants to play an overweight suburban Moscow security guard is less clear. Copyright: Washington Post |