--- title: Leonardo DiCaprio Told President Obama He's Going to Mars description: While at SXSL, the actor casually mentioned he'd signed up for Elon Musk's Martian mission—and the President told DiCaprio he was "crazy." canonical: https://time.com/4517852/leonardo-dicaprio-told-president-obama-hes-signed-up-to-go-to-mars/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-04T15:04:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:55.804Z og:title: Leonardo DiCaprio Told President Obama He's Going to Mars og:description: During a discussion at the White House's SXSL, DiCaprio shared his new plan. og:url: https://time.com/4517852/leonardo-dicaprio-told-president-obama-hes-signed-up-to-go-to-mars/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Leonardo DiCaprio Told President Obama He's Going to Mars twitter:description: During a discussion at the White House's SXSL, DiCaprio shared his new plan. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Leonardo DiCaprio Told President Obama He's Signed Up to Go to Mars ## Video: TIME Raw: Leonardo DiCaprio Meets With Pope Francis [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Leonardo DiCaprio Meets With Pope Francis](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SGc7BLZk.m3u8) (1:57)  _Published 2016-01-28. Leonardo DiCaprio Meets With Pope Francis_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 4, 2016 3:04 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 4, 2016 3:04 PM UTC Oscar-winning actor, [environmentalist](http://time.com/4511153/trailer-leonardo-dicaprio-documentary-before-the-flood/?iid=sr-link9), and [wearer of many hats](http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/09/leonardo-dicaprio-and-his-newsboy-hats-battle-climate-change.html) Leonardo DiCaprio has done some crazy things in his life: battled a grizzly bear, [surprised Jonah Hill on the street](http://time.com/4436118/leonardo-dicaprio-jonah-hill-prank/?iid=sr-link1), yachted around the world. But signing up for the world’s first experimental trip to the planet Mars? That seems like an extreme move. And yet. On Monday at the [White House’s South by South Lawn (SXSL) festival](http://time.com/4508249/president-obama-leonardo-dicaprio-discussion/?iid=sr-link1) of ideas, the actor was engaged in a panel discussion with President Obama and Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist, who joked that it was of paramount importance to preserve our planet, as moving to Mars like [entrepreneur Elon Musk had recently pitched](http://time.com/4510613/elon-musk-mars-colonize/?iid=sr-link2) wasn’t a realistic option. “If you’re a human living on this planet—which most of us are, yeah?” [she said](https://www.inverse.com/article/21717-leonardo-dicaprio-barack-obama-elon-musk-mars-trio-sxsl), according to [_Inverse_](https://www.inverse.com/article/21717-leonardo-dicaprio-barack-obama-elon-musk-mars-trio-sxsl). “As long as we haven’t signed up for the trip to Mars—I don’t want to know if anyone has—I think you’re crazy.” “I did,” DiCaprio joked. “I think he’ll acknowledge he’s crazy,” Obama [added.](http://www.today.com/video/leonardo-dicaprio-says-he-s-going-to-mars-obama-says-he-s-crazy-778733635612) To refresh your memory, [Musk himself warned that anyone who signed up](http://time.com/4311049/mars-musk-spacex-2018/?iid=sr-link1) should be prepared to die. Leo, [life on earth seems pretty good](http://time.com/4311662/leonardo-dicaprio-selfie/?iid=sr-link8) for you right now; might we recommend you reconsider the mission? Besides, Matt Damon’s already done it. \[h/t [Inverse](https://www.inverse.com/article/21717-leonardo-dicaprio-barack-obama-elon-musk-mars-trio-sxsl)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4517852/leonardo-dicaprio-told-president-obama-hes-signed-up-to-go-to-mars/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4517852/leonardo-dicaprio-told-president-obama-hes-signed-up-to-go-to-mars/"},"headline":"Leonardo DiCaprio Told President Obama He's Signed Up to Go to Mars","datePublished":"2016-10-04T15:04:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:55.804Z","description":"Elon Musk already has an A-list taker.","url":"https://time.com/4517852/leonardo-dicaprio-told-president-obama-hes-signed-up-to-go-to-mars/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4517852/leonardo-dicaprio-told-president-obama-hes-signed-up-to-go-to-mars/","name":"Leonardo DiCaprio Told President Obama He's Signed Up to Go to Mars"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Leonardo DiCaprio Meets With Pope Francis","description":"Leonardo DiCaprio Meets With Pope Francis","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SGc7BLZk/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-01-28T14:51:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SGc7BLZk.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4517852/leonardo-dicaprio-told-president-obama-hes-signed-up-to-go-to-mars/","duration":"PT1M57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4517852/leonardo-dicaprio-told-president-obama-hes-signed-up-to-go-to-mars/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```