Leonardo DiCaprio to play his namesake in next film
View(s):At long last, an ancient prophesy is being fulfilled. After decades of hard work and eventual Oscar-winning, Leonardo DiCaprio is finally paying homage to his namesake and making a Leonardo da Vinci biopic, according to Variety.
Paramount edged out Universal for the deal last week, scooping up the future masterpiece. DiCaprio will star in and produce the project under his Appian Way banner. The film will be based on the upcoming Walter Isaacson book of the same name, which will be out in October. Isaacson, you might recall, also wrote the Steve Jobs biography that served as the basis for the Aaron Sorkin-penned biopic that came out in 2015.
DiCaprio is a perfect fit for this role, not least because he’s literally named after da Vinci. His mother reportedly settled on the name after looking at a da Vinci painting in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy in 1974, and feeling baby Leo kick in the womb. Even then, the embryonic young superstar knew his fate: “I’m going to make a biopic about that guy one day!”
This is also the most Italian thing DiCaprio could do outside of starring in yet another Martin Scorsese movie—though, fun fact, DiCaprio has actually never played an Italian or Italian-American in any of Scorsese’s movies. (Instead he’s been everything from a bloodthirsty Irishman (Amsterdam Vallon in Gangs of New York) to a paranoid Southie (Billy Costigan, The Departed).
Courtesy – Vanity Fair