Pointing Rick Dalton

Part of a series on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. [View Related Entries]

Updated Jun 03, 2026 at 10:33AM EDT by Zach.

Added Apr 08, 2020 at 11:21AM EDT by Matt.

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About

Pointing Rick Dalton or Pointing Leonardo DiCaprio, also known simply as Leonardo Dicaprio Pointing Meme, is an image macro and reaction image based on a screenshot of Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Online, the image has been used to express feelings of excited recognition.

Origin

On July 26th, 2019, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was released in the United States.^[1] In the film, Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, respectively) watch the television show F.B.I, which Dalton stars in and points to when he appears onscreen.

On February 7th, 2020, Twitter^[6] user @annaswnsn published the earliest known usage of the image as a meme, with the caption "when I notice the timeline changes in Little Women." The tweet received over 9,800 likes and 990 retweets in less than three months (shown below).

Anna Swanson @annaswnsn when I notice the timeline changes in Little Women 2:24 PM · Feb 7, 2020 · Twitter for iPhone

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On March 1st, 2020, Twitter^[5] user @Kee_Bully19 tweeted a variation with the caption "Me throughout watching The Invisible Man", which received over 285 likes and 75 retweets in less than two months (shown below).

On April 5th, 2020, Twitter ^[2] user @mikescollins tweeted the image with the caption "when someone says the title of the movie in the movie", which received over 432,000 likes and 69,000 retweets in less than one week (shown below).

Following the post, others began using the image to express feelings of recognition. For example, on April 5th, Twitter^[3] user @CrypticNoOne tweeted, "When I'm watching Monsters Inc and see monsters working in an incorporated company", which received over 11,000 likes and 950 retweets in less than one week (shown below, left).

In the next few days, others began using the format in a similar fashion (example below, center). The image has also spread to other platforms, including Reddit. On April 7th, Redditor^[4] LoadOfBarnacles07 posted the image with the caption "Me when someone from Team Avatar shows up in Legend of Korra," which received over 7,800 points (98% upvoted) in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).