August 13, 2017

Leonardo DiCaprio to Play His Namesake Leonardo da Vinci in Upcoming Biopic, Because Nominative Determinism Is Real

You might say that Leonardo DiCaprio was born to play Leonardo da Vinci. The actor is said to have been named for the Italian artist after his pregnant mother first felt him kick while she was looking upon a da Vinci at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery way back in 1974, and now he’ll live up to his namesake by playing him in an upcoming biopic. According to Deadline, that movie now has a home in Paramount Pictures.

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The studio beat out Universal for the rights to Walter Isaacson’s creatively titled book “Leonardo da Vinci,” apparently paying seven figures in the process; said tome has yet to actually be published. Isaacson has previously authored books about Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs, and Albert Einstein, among others; “Einstein: His Life and Genius” was adapted into “Genius,” starring another Oscar-winning thesp. That actor’s name? Geoffrey Rush.

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Elsewhere in adaptations, DiCaprio is set to star in frequent collaborator Martin Scorsese’s take on David Grann’s book “Killers of the Flower Moon.” No one else is attached to “Leonardo da Vinci” yet. The book is scheduled for release on October 17.

Source: IndieWire film