Leonardo DiCaprio shares the Studio Ghibli films he introduced to Martin Scorsese

How it happened: DiCaprio, 49 and Scorsese, 81, recently sat down for a virtual interview with Letterboxd to discuss films that influenced the projects they had done together. When asked which films he had introduced to Scorsese, DiCaprio cited two of what many consider as Hayao Miyazaki‘s best works for Studio Ghibli.

“I was asked what films I introduced to you, but considering you’ve seen every film ever made up until 1980, it’s pretty hard to say,” DiCaprio told Scorsese at the beginning of the interview, which was posted on Jan. 15. “Other than maybe ‘Spirited Away’ – Miyazaki’s films – and maybe ‘Princess Mononoke.’”

The renowned director recalled DiCaprio introducing at least one of those movies. “It was ‘Spirited Away’ you told me to watch,” Scorsese said.

Getting inspired: DiCaprio and Scorsese have worked on six movies together, with “Killers of the Flower Moon” being the latest. Other films that inspired their collaborative history include Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” (1975) for “Gangs of New York” (2002); Howard Hawks’ “His Girl Friday” (1940) for “The Aviator” (2004); Andrzej Wajda’s “Ashes and Diamonds” (1958) for “The Departed” (2006); Otto Preminger’s “Laura” (1944), Jacques Tournier’s “Out of the Past” (1947) and Edward Dmytryk’s “Crossfire” (1947) for “Shutter Island” (2010); and Howard Hawks’ 1932 version of “Scarface” for “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013).

William Wyler’s “The Heiress” (1949) and George Stevens’ “A Place in the Sun” (1951), which both stars Montgomery Clift, inspired “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The crime drama hit U.S. theaters last October and is currently certified fresh at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.

How DiCaprio got into anime: “Princess Mononoke” is reportedly one of DiCaprio’s top films of all time. The actor was first introduced to anime after watching Katsuhiro Otomo’s adaptation of “Akira” in the 1980s and has since been an anime fan.

DiCaprio once proclaimed his love for anime while updating fans about the status of his Hollywood remake of “Akira” and “Ninja Scroll” in 2008. He told MTV at the time, “I’m a big fan of Japanese anime… I know there’s a lot of loyal fans out there of the project and die-hard fans, so we’re going to try to do the best job we possibly can and we’re not going to make the movie until the script is in the right shape.”

Ghibli award season: Studio Ghibli’s latest feature film, “The Boy and the Heron,” recently won a Golden Globes award for best animated feature, the first for Studio Ghibli, Miyazaki and U.S. distributor GKIDS. The movie also became the fourth highest-grossing anime movie in the U.S. and was recently nominated for best animated film at the BAFTAs and best animated feature at the Oscars.