Residents of a town in Russia’s Far East have been donating their gold and silver for something near and dear to their hearts: Leonardo DiCaprio.

Russian town really wants Leonardo DiCaprio to win.

Russian town really wants Leonardo DiCaprio to win. Image by Day Donaldson / CC BY 2.0

More than 100 DiCaprio fans in the Siberian town of Yakutia have donated jewellery and precious metals to make a statue – based on an Academy Award – for the film star who is nominated as best actor for his role in The Revenant.

Sardana Savvina, a member of the Oscar to Leo! initiative, said the group is hopeful that DiCaprio will walk away with two awards this year: a statue from Yakutia and a bona fide Oscar. DiCaprio, whose grandmother was Russian, is extremely popular in the country and famously met with Vladimir Putin in 2010 to discuss tiger conservation in Russia’s eastern regions.

(Press Association)