It’s a pretty good time to be screenwriter Jason Hall. While his first produced script was “Spread,” that movie starring Ashton Kutcher, he has quickly moved onto much bigger and much better things. His script for “American Sniper” has none other than Steven Spielberg attached to direct, with Bradley Cooper to star, while Spielberg is also going to be looking at Hall’s adaptation of David Finkel‘s forthcoming book “Thank You For Your Service” as possible reteam material with Daniel Day-Lewis. Now Hall has another screenplay that is spurring the interest of more A-list talent.
Warner Bros. has snapped up Hall’s pitch for “Rasputin,” with Leonardo DiCaprio to produce and star. The famed Russian mystic was also a wildly controversial person, who seemed to gain more enemies as prominence grew. Known equally for his supposed powers as his sexual proclivities and other unorthodox behaviors, he was assassinated at the age of 47. The larger than life figure of course inspired movies about his life, the most recent efforts being the 2011 French TV flick “Raspoutine” with Gerard Depardieu as the title character, and 1996’s HBO effort “Rasputin” with Alan Rickman in the lead. So yeah, there’s room for another version. And it’s easy to see the appeal: period costuming, eccentric character, accents!
Of course, this is all a long, long way off, as a script needs to be written, DiCaprio needs to approve, a director needs to be found and DiCaprio still needs to be interested after all that happens, and hopefully not too distracted by any of the other projects that come his way. Still, an interesting prospect to consider. [Deadline]
Rasputin was not the monster he's been depicted as. We know he was a healer, a champion of the underdog and downtrodden, and he was anti-war. He was especially horrified at the ethnic cleansing (pogroms) conducted by the military. It was a time when anti-Semitism was government policy, as evidenced by the laws restricting Jews to live in a certain area (The Pale of Settlement), barring them from educations and many occupations. The worst were the raids wherein entire towns of Jews were tortured and slaughtered.
To be against war (this was during WW I) and to advocate equal rights for Jews (who were all considered spies and thieves) were stances that were considered treasonous by society. Even worse, Rasputin had many progressive ideas for economic and social reform that threatened the nobility.
Read "RASPUTIN: The Memoirs of His Secretary" by Aron Simanovitch, newly translated into English and annotated for historical accuracy. Rasputin was a wild guy, but not the monster the aristocracy tried to depict him as. The demonic myth is based on the rumors the nobles spread to discredit him.
Gosh, it would be a gigantic mistake.
I love DiCatchaHoe to death but he needs to stay away from the accents. They don't get along.
For the sexual "proclivities", have victoria's secret models do it. Maybe he'll finally be into it and win that oscar he cares oh so much in life.
Jason Hall also wrote the upcoming Liam Hemsworth-Harrison Ford-Gary Oldman movie PARANOIA.
While I admire his pursuit of serious minded projects, I think DiCaprio could stand to do more ensemble work (such as The Departed) or even try his hand at some comedy.
I thought he said he wont be making movies for a while? or he'll take sabbatical after he finally wins that Oscar!
Has there ever been a movie star more desperate to be taken seriously than Leo? Who would've thought the same guy could play Howard Hughes, J. Edgar Hoover and now Rasputin.
I hope he gets the Oscar he's so hungry for just so he can finally start playing roles where he smiles and isn't egregiously miscast.