Meme Overview

Pointing Rick Dalton, also known as Pointing Leonardo DiCaprio, is an image macro and reaction image that features a scene from the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The image is commonly used online to convey feelings of excitement and recognition.

How It Began

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood premiered in the United States on July 26, 2019. The meme is derived from a moment in the film where the characters Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his stunt double Cliff Booth, portrayed by Brad Pitt, watch the show F.B.I. Dalton points at the screen when he appears, creating a memorable scene that sparked the meme's popularity.

Meme Evolution

The earliest known use of the Pointing Leonardo DiCaprio meme occurred on February 7, 2020, when Twitter user @annaswnsn shared it with the caption, 'when I notice the timeline changes in Little Women.' This tweet garnered over 9,800 likes and 990 retweets within three months. On March 1, 2020, another Twitter user, @Kee_Bully19, created a variation saying, 'Me throughout watching The Invisible Man,' which received over 285 likes and 75 retweets in less than two months. A particularly viral tweet on April 5, 2020, by user @mikescollins, featured the image with the caption, 'when someone says the title of the movie in the movie,' earning over 432,000 likes and 69,000 retweets in under a week. Following this, the meme's usage expanded significantly, with users expressing recognition in various contexts, such as @CrypticNoOne's tweet about Monsters Inc, which got over 11,000 likes. The meme also spread to Reddit, where a post by LoadOfBarnacles07 about Team Avatar in Legend of Korra received over 7,800 points in less than 24 hours.