Leonard DiCaprio’s ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ Movie Part Of Epic Bidding War

Leonardo DiCaprio’s been Oscar-nominated five times in his career. What we are seeing is the emergence of an iconic American actor, one who never plays it by the rules and always tackles risky, adventurous fare often driven by auteurs. Just take a look at the list of filmmakers he’s worked with over the years: Scorsese, Spielberg, Inarritu, Nolan, Tarantino, Allen, Cameron, Eastwood, Scott, among many others. He’s surrounded himself with a who’s who of great Hollywood directors. DiCaprio sure knows how to pick ‘em and yet, at 42 years of age, I have the feeling that he’s only getting started and is going to keep pushing the artistic boundaries further in the years to come.

Ever since 2015’s “The Revenant,” DiCaprio has been, more or less, scouting around, looking for his next endeavor. We do know he has Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” in pre-production and ready to start rolling cameras once Scorsese finishes production on “The Irishman,” but there’s room for another project before then and it seems like he’s finally found it in the form of a Leonardo da Vinci biopic.

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Variety is reporting that Paramount has outbid Universal, for what we’re told is a seven figures deal, for the rights to Walter Isaacson‘s book “Leonardo da Vinci.” No director is currently attached to the project, but you can bet it will be a high-profile, seasoned filmmaker given DiCaprio’s insistence in only working with the best.

Of course, DiCaprio is set to star as the Italian Renaissance artist, which probably means he will have to grow an epic, biblical beard for the role since da Vinci’s magnificent flowing facial hair was very much part of his renaissance phase. During that era, he went on to produce some of his most famous works including “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa.”

DiCaprio’s connection to da Vinci doesn’t just limit itself to this project, the American’s actor’s mother has admitted that she chose her son’s name while looking at a da Vinci painting in Italy as her in utero son started kicking for the first time. Some things are just meant to be.