Leonardo DiCaprio Passes the Mantle to Zac Efron

UPDATE: So it turns out the quote below might've been completely made up, according to this JustJared post. I guess this is one of those "take everything you read with a grain of salt" sort of thing. Still, it sounds like something he might say, right?

I still consider Leonardo DiCaprio to be the biggest teen idol ever. Ever.

He's not anymore, certainly, because miraculously, he's actually a good actor, and even more miraculously, he became Martin Scorsese's favorite new actor. He's a perfect example of someone who was able to successfully transition out of that mania.

But remember 1998? At the time, my older sister was fifteen years old. Seventeen magazine interviews with DiCaprio plastered the walls in her bedroom. He's all any of the girls at school would talk about. Before I had even seen Titanic, I knew where he was born, his favorite food, his favorite bands, and all the pets he'd ever owned.

ContactMusic.com nabbed a quote from DiCaprio about his idol past and his happiness that people like Zac Efron have stepped into his old role:

DiCaprio is adamant that he has spent many years trying to shake the title of 'sex symbol' and is delighted to see new stars, like High School Musical star Efron, taking his place as the poster boy for young female fans.

He says, "I look at young Zac Efron and think ‘Go get it pal, leave me in peace.’ I was never happy with the teen idol tag at all - never wanted to be a sex symbol or all that stuff - it was the work that appealed to me. Really nothing else. (I have) total respect for how young stars like Zac handle it all. Really total respect."

Ten years from now, what will Efron's career look like?

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