Johnny Depp has admitted he wasn’t always so nice to The Revenant‘s Leonardo DiCaprio.

Working together on the early ’90s film What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, Depp said he sometimes took his personal demons out on the up-and-coming actor.

“It was a hard time for me, that film, for some reason. I don’t know why,” Depp said during an on-stage interview at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival last week.

When it came to his relationship with the then 19-year-old DiCaprio, Depp said: “I tortured him.”

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“I really did. He was always talking about these videos games, you know? I told you it was kind of a dark period. ‘No, I will not give you a drag of my cigarette while you hide from your mother again, Leo.'”

In the film, which first brought 19-year old DiCaprio to the attention of studio big wigs, Depp played a small-town supermarket worker charged with looking after his morbidly obese mother and mentally impaired little brother (played by DiCaprio).

Depp finished his tribute on a more cheery note, praising DiCaprio for his work ethic on the 1993 film set.

“I’d say the absolute truth is that I respect Leo a lot. He worked really hard on that film and spent a lot of time researching. He came to set and he was ready to work hard and all his ducks were in a row.”

DiCaprio was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar as well as the Golden Globe for the film.