The Aviator

"Some men dream the future. He built it."

2004 2h 50m EN

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7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 6,034

Drama

Synopsis

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A biopic depicting the life of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate, while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“Some men dream the future. He built it.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Leonardo DiCaprio
Howard Hughes
Cate Blanchett
Katharine Hepburn
Kate Beckinsale
Ava Gardner
John C. Reilly
Noah Dietrich
Alec Baldwin
Juan Trippe
Alan Alda
Senator Ralph Owen Brewster
Ian Holm
Professor Fitz
Danny Huston
Jack Frye

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writers: John Logan
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America, Canada, Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 170 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$110M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 22 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: United States of America, Canada, Germany.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

353+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Martin Scorsese, shot by Robert Richardson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Howard Shore. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Thelma Schoonmaker shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Martin Scorsese directs. Robert Richardson behind the camera. Howard Shore scores. Thelma Schoonmaker cuts. A long sit — settle in. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Canada, Germany. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 170 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2$110M budget — tentpole studio territory.
3Released 22 years ago.
4International production across 3 countries: United States of America, Canada, Germany.
5353+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Martin Scorsese, shot by Robert Richardson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Howard Shore. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Thelma Schoonmaker shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett and Kate Beckinsale carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Some men dream the future. He built it.".
11IMDB entry: tt0338751 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 11 themes, including "ladykiller", "pilot", "biography", "based on true story".

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert Richardson
Original score: Howard Shore
Editing: Thelma Schoonmaker
Production design: Dante Ferretti
Costume design: Sandy Powell
Makeup / hair: Morag Ross
VFX supervisor: Robert Stromberg
Sound: Tom Fleischman
Stunt coordinator: Jean Frenette
Runtime: 170 min · 2h 50m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $110,000,000
Box office: $213,719,942
Return: 194% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: The Aviator (2004)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Best Production Design
Academy Award for Best Costume Design
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Martin Scorsese

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-08-05
★ 7/10
Howard Hughes (Leonardo Di Caprio) had made his money from oil and was obsessed with aviation. Pumping a great deal of his money into that still fairly embryonic industry, he designs his own outwardly more outlandish aircraft that push the boundaries of size and capacity - all against a scepticism from his investors and even his closest friends like Dietrich (John C. Reilly not Marlene). He sees a vision for international flying that inspires the expansion of TWA and that earns him the enmity of rival Pan Am owner Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin) who drafts in his senatorial bloodhound Brewster (Alan Alda) to accuse Hughes of wartime profiteering and corruption. Meantime, his personal life is only marginally less turbulent with affairs with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and then Ava Gardner (Kate Beckisale) adding a certain spice to his life and to these colourful proceedings. For me, the film comes most alive with the congressional spats between Di Caprio and an on-form Alda for that's where I felt the writing showed Hughes at his most robustly defiant. Blanchett doesn't so much play Hepburn as mimic her, right down to that instantly recognisable drawl of her's, and she does it well; Ian Holm also delivers entertainingly as the constantly puzzled Professor Fritz and there is an whole slew of familiar faces playing even more familiar faces - like Jude Law's go at Errol Flynn and Gwen Stefani's lively Jean Harlow. Added to the stunning production design that makes sensibly sparing use of CGI - sometimes mirroring what it could actually have been used for had it been around in the 1930s and 40s, and some seriously creative effort from the costumiers, this film not only depicts a life of a flawed man with huge ambitions (yet a terror of the smallest germs) but also serves to show us a little of the industrial and social development of the United States both before and after World War II. In many ways, for all his flamboyance Hughes comes across here as quite a vulnerable and flaky man, and that's a testament to an actor who seems to have absorbed as many facts and public speculations about this renowned billionaire as he could, but who has also imbued his own characterisation with some quirky character traits that humanise him to the extent that you very often find yourself feeling a little pity for a man for whom happiness was always around another corner. It's not a documentary, nor trying to be one, so there are events contrived for cinematic effect and others left out completely here - but it's three hours just flew by and at the end of part one of his life, I was hoping that Scorsese et al would come back with a part two - that wasn't exactly dull, either!

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