With all due respect to Billy Zane and Pamela Anderson, now seemingly every movie based on a comic book has to star a Hollywood A-lister. Will Smith? Suicide Squad. Jennifer Lawrence? X-Men: First Class. Ben Affleck? Justice League. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson? Black Adam. But there are still some notable above-the-title holdouts, including Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio. But according to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. is hoping to get The Revenant star for their upcoming The Joker film.
News broke last week that a Joker spinoff film (that has nothing to do with Jared Leto and Margot Robbie’s Joker film) is in the early stages of development. The Hangover‘s Todd Phillips is reportedly attached as a director and writer, while Martin Scorsese — yes, the same Oscar-winning director behind such all-time classics as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas — will serve as a producer. That’s where Leo comes in.
Sources say Warners will make an ambitious attempt to use Scorsese to bring Leonardo DiCaprio into the world of comic-book movies. Certainly, Scorsese’s involvement in The Joker film [could] elevate and diversify the studio’s contributions to the genre, creating the potential to make awards-worthy films such as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. (Via)
Of course, as THR notes, there’s no official offer to DiCaprio yet, and there’s also no guarantee he would say yes even if producers backed a dump truck full of money up to his house. But if the audition process involves busting out some sick dance moves to Prince, he’s got the role in the bag.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
