tied down on the floor like a prisoner of war oh i've been down so long day is nearly gone i must carry on with this wasted love this is "nightline." >> tonight, el chapo captured. the deadly firefight that took down mexico's top drug lord. we take you inside el chapo's escape tunnel. plus details about the secret meeting with academy award winning actor sean penn. the hopes of a hollywood tribute may well have led authorities to his bunkered safe house. star man >> celebrating a star man. david bowie, an iconic artist

ground control to tom >> ground control to major tom and space odyssey. a rock 'n' roll chameleon. now his final message in his last album "black star," a parting gift for his fans. a winning night for "the revenant" star -- >> leonardo dicaprio. >> wow, thank you. >> the lukewarm reaction on social media for that moment with gaga. we're one on one with the actor. but first the "nightline 5." >> wait, wait, wait. you have to rinse it first. >> no, that can go in. >> it can't. >> what are you, nuts? that's baked on alfredo. >> it's baked on, it's never going to work. >> trust cascade plat numb. it powers through your toughest stuck-on food better than finish. >> see, told you it would work. >> you guys heard me say that, right? >> cascade.

good evening. thanks for joining us. we begin with that heart-pounding firefight, the capture of el chapo, captured on video as it unfolded. ironically it may have been el chapo's covert rendezvous with sean penn and the mexican tele novella star that tipped off authorities. was he snared by his own lust for hollywood fame? abc's matt gutman in mexico tonight. >> reporter: it's a story worthy of a hollywood blockbuster. raging gun battles. the most wanted drug kingpin in the world. a secret meeting with a beautiful woman.

but this was all too real. you're watching the final moments before the world's most wanted drug lord is captured. this video released today by the mexican government showing mexican marines storming the secret hideout of narco kingpin joaquin el chapo guzman. the gun battle erupted before dawn friday in el chapo's home state of sin sineloa. an elite commando unit busting into a safe house, weapons drawn, seen here in body camera footage. under heavy .50-caliber fire, the first marine through shot in the arm. another marine pulling the pin on a grenade, tossing it inside. the explosion shakes the house. >> this is where the initial gun battle happened. how many bullet holes pierced this door. and of course that window.

this massive gun battle here. blood on the floor there. this disaster of a kitchen. bullet holes everywhere. the ceilings, the floors. a number of bullet holes up these stairs is mind boggling. this is where some of the most ferocious of the fighting took place. look at this. about the as marines went up the stairs, el chapo was heading down through this mirrored wall designed for this exact moment. >> and right through here is this trap door. this is the secret passageway and doorway that leads to the tunnel down there. it's incredible that right out of that closet and that mirror is this perfectly constructed secret passageway. we're going to go down the stairs here. where it is very dank. very wet. leading to a tunnel. then the city's drainage system. as the gun battle above raged. five of his men were killed, four others arrested.

passageway which is flooded. have to come through here, down this step, into this muck. there are all sorts of snakes in here. had to crawl under that to get over there. just beyond there is that door. looks like a door on a submarine that leads right into the drainage system. hundreds of yards of chapo and his lieutenant crawl through here. i can't even crouch. it's about three feet high. extremely claustrophobic. you can tell why they came out of here looking so filthy. we found the spot where he surfaced at this intersection. pulling up this manhole, we knew we found where he'd been. the two of them reportedly popped out of this manhole now. you look inside. you can see that m-4 with the rocket launcher that the two of them apparently used. they scampered out here, carjacked a car. right around here el chapo and his lieutenant, driving that white car, carjacked another vehicle, a red one. they took this left turn. then authorities say they headed right towards the highway.

catching el chapo and his lieutenant on the edge of town. they came here because it was the closest protected area to where el chapo was arrested, about 200 yards that way. this is one of the furthest in back. they brought him inside. they got his identity. they sat him down on this bed. that's where they took that famous picture. the irony is that all this may have happened because a star-struck el chapo took a meeting about a movie. the drunk king fugitive agreeing to secretly meet with sean penn and mexican soap opera star kate del castillo to talk about a bio-pic about his life and give sean penn an interview for "rolling stone." del castillo, known for "jane the virgin" and "weeds" setting it up through secret messages and burn phones.

surveillance photos reportedly arriving in mexico for that meeting. el chapo then flying penn and del castillo in two of his radar-jamming planes to a mountain hideout and prohibiting any phones brought in. here penn poses with the drug lord in a photo taken for awe things authentication purposes. penn writes their seven-hour sit-down in october started with tequila and a hug. noting el chapo looked remarkably well-groomed for a man who'd been on the run since his daring prison escape last july. el chapo reportedly boasting to penn about his kingpin status saying, i supply more heroin, meth amp methamphetamine, cocape and marijuana than anybody else in the world. i have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats are later recording this video amidst the squawking of roosters --

prone to violence el chapo says, look, all i do is defend myself, nothing more. do i start looking for trouble? never. but trouble found him. when authorities reportedly tracked him down through his communications with actors and producers. what we know right now, it's very unlikely sean penn would be charged with any sort of crime for going and meeting with him and interviewing him. journalists have done that many times before. >> reporter: el chapo's final attempt to dash to freedom this weekend seemed like his previous escape back in july from this prison cell, therea tunnel brazenly dug by come raids, even outfitted with a motorcycle. part of the el chapo expertise. after all he'd been using tunnels for years. but tonight mexican authorities have el chapo. they say it could take up to a year to extradite him to the u.s. for prosecution. so for now he's being held inside that same maximum

where he escaped from back in july. this time it's fortified so another escape and assault like this doesn't have to happen again. for "nightline," i'm matt gutman in mexico. up next, the loss of a legendary performer, david bowie, a true original and shape shifter. now the eerie final message of lazarus rising after his death. look up here i'm in heaven i've got scars that can't be seen p proof of less joint pain. and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis with humira. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to

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david bowie was a masterful musician, a pioneer of sexual liberation, and a game changer in the world of pop culture. we lost the iconic performer after a closely guarded 18-month battle with cancer. but this fiercely forward-thinking artist left a lasting message behind for his fans. here's abc's david wright. >> reporter: david bowie didn't turn his battle with cancer into a tabloid story, didn't even tell his fans he was sick. instead, from his deathbed, he turned it into art. look up here i'm in heaven >> reporter: this song "lazarus" released four days ago. i've got scars that can't be seen >> reporter: those buttons

a reminder of death. everybody knows me now >> reporter: for a man about to die, this is a mastery of mortality. the deathbed as a piece of performance art. the whole thing very bowie. this is why people loved him. >> he knew the end was coming. and it was sort of like a parting gift to fans and a way of saying, it's okay. i'm making art out of my death. >> reporter: today in l.a., new york, london, and berlin, bowie fans were in shock. paying tribute and grieving. the pop star from another planet has gone back to the mothership. he was born david jones and took the stage name bowie because davey jones of the monkees got there first. a rebel long before he was famous. here he is age 17, a schoolboy champion for the society for the prevention of cruelty to

>> exactly who's been cruel to you? >> well, i think we're all fairly tolerant. but for the last two years we've had comments like darling, and can i carry your handbag, thrown at us. things just have to stop now. >> reporter: he was a struggling artist for years, a bit of a misfit. his first big hit was inspired by the space program. >> liftoff, we have a liftoff. this is major tom to ground control >> reporter: "space oddity," released in 1969 a few weeks before the moon landing. and i'm floating in a most peculiar way >> reporter: on the bbc's coverage of apollo 11 the images were neil armstrong, the soundtrack was "major tom." one small step for bowie. his giant leap would actually come later when he borrowed a concept from andy warhol and pop art. the rock star as a performance piece. a fictional character. blurring reality and fantasy.

those costumes inspired by stanley kubrick's movie "clockwork orange." that otherworldly androgynous look. there's a starman >> reporter: positioning bowie as the outsider. the freak triumphant. the nonconformist who's quit worrying about fitting in, a huge part of his appeal to people. american viewers had their first chance to hear bowie speak at length on abc, talking to dick cavit in 1974. >> what do your parents do? >> my father's dead and my mother's got a small flat. i think she's got a day job. >> does she have trouble explaining you to the neighbors? >> i think she pretends i'm not hers. >> reporter: bowie collaborated with john lennon, as lennon himself described to bbc. >> it's no big deal, we just sort of, oh, boom, boom, boom. like that. >> reporter: the song was

>> reporter: bowie classic. he wrote "under pressure" with freddy mercury of queen. pressure pushing down on me >> reporter: and in a more unlikely duet for bowie sang a christmas song with bing crosby. our finest gifts we bring >> reporter: a new generation, bowie is every bit as iconic as bing was in his day. >> wasn't just his music, it was the way he packaged himself, his style. >> reporter: his androgyny and ambiguous sexuality were mind-blowing in that era. >> england in 1972, which is when he came out as bisexual, although he said he was gay, it had just been legalized five years earlier. it was an enormously controversial thing to say. >> reporter: his sublime decadence even beckoned across the berlin wall. >> mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. >> reporter: days before ronald reagan's famous speech there in

outside the reichstag in west bear line. today the german foreign minister credited bowie with helping to bring down the wall. he was an actor too. a vampire before vampire movies were a thing in "the hunger." he was the man who fell to earth. >> i have a passport. >> reporter: he did a cameo -- >> i believe i might be of service. >> reporter: as himself in "zoolander." most of all, bowie will be remembered as the father of glam rock, a performer whose artistic dna you can trace down through kiss, through kanye, all the way to lady gaga. today madonna posted, david bowie changed the course of my life forever. mick jagger tweeted this picture calling bowie an inspiration and a true original. now gone and sorely missed, but

in new york. >> a true artist who will certainly be missed but not forgotten. up next, leonardo dicaprio telling us how he pulled off his award-winning performance in "the revenant." and the run-in with a certain star that had social media buzzing. some flavors are so good, you get hungry just thinking about 'em. and at red lobster's big festival of flavors you can savor 2 of 7 new and classic creations on one plate for $15.99. like delicious new maple-and-bacon grilled shrimp, because c'mon, what doesn't bacon go with? or get a little kick with these new ghost pepper bbq grilled shrimp. because if you like it spicy, garlicky, or cheesy, trust me you'll like this. but every last flavor is too good to last-so hurry in! if you could see your cough, you'd see all the sickness you're spreading. new robitussin cf max severe soothes and delivers powerful relief of cough, sore

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it was a charmed night. it seemed to be all about leo. a titanic reunion that had people swooning. a golden globe win for his raw performance in "the revenant." it might have been a run-in with

here's abc's chris connelly. >> lady gaga, "american horror story hotel." >> reporter: last night the fractious world of social media was in agreement with this hilariously eyebrows-up reaction to a passing-by lady gaga. in this off-camera reunion with costar kate winslet leonardo dicaprio had won the golden globe even before he won a golden globe. >> and the golden globe goes to leonardo dicaprio. >> reporter: his best actor drama victory, one of three globes for "the revenant." >> i need two of them for a meal, do you understand. survival -- >> reporter: "the revenant" exposed its actors to weeks of deep freeze filming. >> we did have warm trailers and warm homes to go to. but it was a difficult shoot in the context of making a movie.

watch what these men actually endured, historically it's not only fascinating, it's harrowing. >> why were these conditions necessary in which to shoot this movie? >> yeah, why? >> the story that we were telling was about these men 200 years ago. so what other choice i should have made? >> reporter: leonardo dicaprio plays lou glass, the real-life 1820s frontiersman attacked by that bear and left for dead. only to set off on a journey through the wilderness to find those who'd abandoned him. >> it was a revenge story but it became something sort of process. >> the safe thing to do is track a new course back up -- >> reporter: to play glass' nemesis, fitzgerald, it was leonardo dicaprio himself who reached out to tom hardy. then about to star in a contemporary action film. >> what'd you really say to him? >> he knows what i said to him. >> before you take off jumping out of helicopters and shooting guns and whatever the f you're

script i'm doing next with alejandro, it's awesome. then i got the job and i told leo, i got the job. leo bailed and went off to jamaica. on a yacht. and decided he needed to think about it. >> reporter: leonardo dicaprio, who signed on for "the revenant" before shooting "the wolf of wall street," gives a performance that has again landed him in the best actor oscar observation. >> i ain't afraid to die anymore, i done it already. >> i think leo was basically doing a beautiful work all the time with his body and his size. in this choreographed dance. that is what i think cinema now, the big screen, is about. >> what are you proud of, of your performance? >> i'm proud of this whole movie. for a performance aspect, look, i always need at least a decade to really gauge what the hell i did, you know. it takes me at least ten years to not know exactly what's happening in a shot next and where i was on that location,

emotional connection to a