Looks like Leonardo DiCaprio will do anything for a great role--even
if it means trading in directors. 15 August 2002
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Leo, Luhrmann
and "Alexander"
by Josh Grossberg
Looks like Leonardo DiCaprio will do anything for a great role--even
if it means trading in directors.
Earlier this year, his Leo-ness had been
attached to star in a big-budget movie about Alexander the Great to be directed by his
Gangs of New York pal Martin Scorsese. Now, however, the boat boy is contemplating jumping
ship and joining a rival project on the Macedonian conqueror to be helmed by Baz Luhrmann.
According to trade reports Thursday, DiCaprio is in talks with Luhrmann and producer Dino
De Laurentiis to topline their tentatively titled Alexander, taking on the juicy role of
the king of the ancient world who ascended to the Macedonian throne when his dad was
murdered and then proceeded to forge the largest empire in human history only to die a
mysterious death at the age of 33.
"If [Leo] can say, 'I'm king of the world,' then he can certainly command the world," Martha De Laurentiis told the Hollywood Reporter. "He is Alexander. He's such a great actor and can carry that part."
The question is which Alexander does Leo want.
The planned Scorsese version would have reunited DiCaprio with his Gangs director and
featured a screenplay by Oscar-winning scribe Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects)
and Peter Buchman (Jurassic Park III).
But DiCaprio also has a strong relationship with Luhrmann, having starred in the Aussie filmmaker's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. Luhrmann also has his Oscar winner in the script deparment (The Silence of the Lambs' Ted Tally, based on a trio of acclaimed Italian novels on Alexander).
And, perhaps most importantly, the Luhrmann version has been fast-tracked for shooting in early 2003, giving him a head start on Scorsese, who's still finishing the sound mix for his seemingly never-ending Gangs.
Additionally, thanks to Dino De Laurentiis' commitment to build a studio in Morocco, the country's ruler, King Muhammed VI, has pledged 5,000 soldiers and 1,000 horses to recreate sweeping battle scenes.
If DiCaprio goes with Luhrmann, the Scorsese project would likely be folded, with the filmmaker joining Alexander as a producer, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which also says the McQuarrie-Buchman script might be combined with Tally's.
There are a couple of complications, however. De Laurentiis' Moroccan studio still needs to be built (it will take at least four months) and Luhrmann is currently preoccupied mounting a version of Puccini's opera La Bohème on Broadway, set to debut in late December.
Meanwhile, Oliver Stone is busy plotting his own take on Alexander, with red-hot Irish actor Colin Farrell in the titular role. Hoping to beat Baz to the punch, Stone, who once had Farrell's Minority Report cohort Tom Cruise attached to star, has already scouted locations and aims to start shooting early next year with a budget upwards of $140 million--roughly the same as Luhrmann's project.
(We avoided utter Alexander oversaturation when HBO mercifully shuttered its planned $120 million 10-part miniseries when producer and possible star Mel Gibson dropped out.)
DiCaprio's decision will not only impact the bevy of Alexander projects, but will also influence dueling movies on weirdo airplane magnate Howard Hughes. Should DiCaprio go with Luhrmann's Alexander, the actor's planned Hughes biopic with Scorsese titled The Aviator might be jeopardized. If The Aviator gets pushed back, Jim Carrey and Memento director Christopher Nolan's Hughes project might make it in front of cameras first. (A third Hughes biopic, with the unrelated Hughes brothers directing and Johnny Depp attached to star, had been in development but is unlikely to get off the drawing board.)
And while we're on the topic of Hollywood overkill, fans will get a double dose of DiCaprio come Christmastime, with Gangs and Catch Me If You Can, an action-comedy costarring Leo and Tom Hanks and directed by Steven Spielberg, both expected to open on December 25.