Leo finally has that coveted gold statue in his possession following his success with The Revenant, leading many to wonder whether that would be the end of his gruelling, demanding roles. Maybe he’d start slumming it in some romcoms, or voice a few animated characters? Well, maybe not.
Paramount and DiCaprio’s production company, Appian Way, will adapt Stephen Talty‘s crime novel, The Black Hand, which is set in the early 1900s with the Italian mafia first making waves in the US by kidnapping people and leaving ransom notes dubbing themselves ‘The Black Hand.’
DiCaprio will presumably play real life detective, Joseph Petrosino, who squares off against the organisation. The character has been dubbed the ‘Italian Sherlock Holmes’ – sign me up.
Talty already has one successful Hollywood adaptation, having also acted as a ghost writer on A Captain’s Duty, the book which eventually turned into the Oscar-nominated Captain Phillips. Paramount are still looking for a screenwriter to adapt The Black Hand.
And that possibility of Leo suddenly turning to money-grabbing, phone-it-in roles? Yeah, about that. Along with this new project, he also has another project with Martin Scorsese lined up (The Devil In The White City), a thriller with the writer of The Revenant (Conquest), plus another true life crime drama, titled The Crowded Room. So don’t expect a role in Sing 2 anytime soon.
#Peace.Love.TheBlackHand
