That's good news for "The Aviator," the big-budget biopic that opens in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles Friday, and nationwide on Christmas Day.

The film, which reportedly cost more than $100 million, depicts the early years of the dashing filmmaker and aviator who courted myriad Hollywood actresses, including Katharine Hepburn, Ava Gardner and Jean Harlow.

DiCaprio, who has dated his share of beauties, including supermodel Gisele Bundchen, says it was less Hughes' lifestyle that drew him to the role than the maverick's work ethic.

"He was 'Citizen Kane'-like," DiCaprio says. "He was a dreamer and a visionary. Hughes was a force in Hollywood, in aviation, in about everything he did."

A lot is riding on the force of "Aviator" as well. The film reunites DiCaprio with director Martin Scorsese, who is still seeking his first Academy Award.

Scorsese "should have won a long time ago," says DiCaprio, who starred in Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" in 2002. "He's a genius, and I hope he gets the recognition he deserves with this film."

But "Aviator" faces more than an Oscar challenge. Only two biopics have taken in more than $100 million: "A Beautiful Mind" in 2001 and 2002's "Catch Me If You Can."

DiCaprio starred in the latter, which raked in $164.4 million. The actor rocketed to superstardom in 1997's "Titanic."

DiCaprio, 29, says he is less concerned with the film making money than he is coming off as an authentic eccentric. He read books, listened to tapes and watched movies about Hughes.

"So many people know his story, I have to come off as authentic as possible," he says. "It's really intimidating."

DiCaprio loves the story of the eccentric recluse Howard Hughes. But he loves the man's era even more.

"That was such an amazing period," DiCaprio says of Hughes' heyday, from the early 1920s to the mid-1940s. "Hollywood was just getting going. And aviators were looked upon as these great adventurers. They risked their lives to show that anything was possible."

"Aviator" follows Hughes' younger years, when he turned a small fortune from a drill-bit business into an entertainment and aviation empire.

Hughes produced and directed several films, including 1930's "Hell's Angels," which at the time was the most expensive film ever made at $3.9 million. He went on to own RKO studio and run Trans World Airlines before succumbing to mental illness, paranoia and addiction to painkillers. He died in 1976.

DiCaprio says he became intrigued by Hughes as a 21-year-old, when he read the biography "Howard Hughes: The Untold Story."

"I realized what a dynamic figure he was," DiCaprio says. "He was an eccentric and a ladies' man. He wasn't a public man, but he knew legends like Katharine Hepburn and Ava Gardner."

In the movie, Hepburn is played by Cate Blanchett, Gardner by Kate Beckinsale and Jean Harlow is portrayed by Gwen Stefani.

DiCaprio studied hours of audio and video to get Hughes' cadence correct. He also noted early signs of Hughes' obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"We studied his speech patterns, the way he would repeat certain phrases over and over," he says. "Not many people probably know what he sounds like, but I think we got it right."

What audiences won't see are Hughes' final years, when he shuttered himself in a hotel room, obsessed with germs, afraid of human contact and withered from drug addiction.