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Dennis Lehane’s ‘Live By Night’ Acquired By Warner Bros For Leonardo DiCaprio

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday April 13, 2012 @ 10:46am PDTTags: Leonardo DiCaprio, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has just acquired Live By Night, the new Dennis Lehane novel, as a star vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio. The film will be produced by his Appian Way Productions, which is working on several high profile Warner projects, including the Matt Reeves-directed The Twilight Zone, and Akira. They are also developing Satori, the bestseller by Savages author Don Winslow as a star vehicle for DiCaprio, with a script being written by Shane Salerno and Winslow.

The novel uses some of the characters from Lehane’s sprawling period novel The Given Day and brings them into Prohibition. The Given Day, itself a wonderful novel, was originally optioned by Sam Raimi but that lapsed. This is the second installment of a trilogy that Lehane is writing, so Warner Bros controls all the material. DiCaprio and his partner Jennifer Davisson Killoran will produce and Appian’s Michael Ireland brought in the book.

Deal was just closed by Lehane’s longtime rep Amy Schiffman at IPG. Book will be published this fall. Lehane’s novels are hard bitten Boston crime stories that make lively movies that have included Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, and Shutter Island. The latter starred DiCaprio, with Martin Scorsese directing.

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Martin Scorsese And Leonardo DiCaprio Committing To ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’ For August; Red Granite Fully Funding

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday March 15, 2012 @ 9:33am PDTTags: Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Red Granite, The Wolf of Wall Street
Mike Fleming

Martin Scorsese The Wolf of Wall StreetEXCLUSIVE: Director Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are committing to make The Wolf of Wall Street their fifth collaboration. The film is based on the Jordan Belfort memoir of his days … Read More »

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Leonardo DiCaprio & Steven Spielberg Help Purchase ‘Wizard Of Oz’ Ruby Slippers For Movie Academy

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday February 22, 2012 @ 1:12pm PSTTags: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wizard of Oz

Beverly Hills, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has acquired a pair of the iconic ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio led a group of “angel donors” whose gifts to the Academy Foundation enabled the purchase. In addition to the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, a component fund of CCF Environmental and Humanitarian Causes, donations came from producer-director Steven Spielberg and Terry Semel, co-chair of LACMA and the former chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. and Yahoo!, along with other donors.

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OSCARS: Who Got Snubbed By Academy?

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday January 24, 2012 @ 8:43am PSTTags: 84th Academy Awards, Bridesmaids, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oscars, Tilda Swinton

Deadline’s Awards Columnist Pete Hammond contributed commentary for this article.

Best Picture
Bridesmaids
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part II
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Ides Of March

Despite Warner Bros’ pricey campaign to put the final Harry Potter in the mix for Best Picture, its efforts only resulted in the same old technical noms the series usually gets (Visual Effects, Art Direction, Makeup). Universal also did a sizeable campaign to get its raunchy summer comedy Bridesmaids into the Best Picture conversation, but conventional wisdom that the Academy frowns on broad comedies in the category proved true again, relegating the hit movie to screenplay and Supporting Actress Melissa McCarthy — exactly the two categories the film was always thought to have its best chance.

Directing
David Fincher, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Steven Spielberg, War Horse
Stephen Daldry, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Tate Taylor, The Help
Bennett Miller, Moneyball
George Clooney, The Ides Of March

DGA nominee Fincher was the one anomaly between the usually reliable DGA list and the Oscar nominees in this category. Terrence Malick grabbed that spot, while Spielberg not only was snubbed here but in animated feature too for The Adventures Of Tintin. At least he has a Best Picture nom for War Horse to comfort him. Daldry, Taylor and Miller join him in the Snubbed Club even though their films were deemed Best Picture-worthy.

Actor In A Leading Role
Leonardo DiCaprio, J Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides Of March or Drive
Perhaps it was a sign when the Makeup branch failed to list DiCaprio’s Hoover makeup in their original seven finalists. The Academy thoroughly rejected Clint Eastwood’s movie, and DiCaprio went down with the ship too.

Actor In A Supporting Role
Albert Brooks, Drive
Armie Hammer, J. Edgar
Andy Serkis, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

Motion Capture just isn’t a favorite with actors so that doomed Serkis from the start.  Brooks missed SAG too, so that should have been a sign. Perhaps the film was just too violent for some? (Brooks had the best anti-reaction quotes of the day on his Twitter feed, posting “And to the Academy: You don’t like me. You really don’t like me” and “Looking forward to the State of the Union tonight. Hope the new Axis of Evil includes Hollywood.”)

Actress In A Leading Role
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Charlize Theron, Young Adult

Both of the above were more talked-about for noms than Rooney Mara, but in the end the newcomer triumphed over some Oscar-winning vets.

Actress In A Supporting Role
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Youth was not served in a tough category. Read More »

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OSCARS: Best Actor Race Pits Veterans Vs. “Sexiest Men Alive”

By PETE HAMMOND | Monday January 2, 2012 @ 1:00pm PSTTags: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oscars
Pete Hammond

Call it the battle of the superstars.

Rarely has the Best Actor Oscar race contained so many likely big movie stars. From Clooney and Pitt to DiCaprio and Gosling, the possibilities of a red-carpet smackdown among People Magazine’s Sexiest Men … Read More »

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Baz Luhrmann Injured On ‘The Great Gatsby’

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday December 23, 2011 @ 9:09pm PSTTags: Baz Luhrmann, Leonardo DiCaprio, The Great Gatsby

This week Warner Bros released the first official stills for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. Now Australian news reports say an on-set injury to the filmmaker forced an early end to this year’s shooting of the pic due in theaters next … Read More »

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Warner Bros Sets Black List Top Scribe Graham Moore For ‘Devil In The White City’; Leonardo DiCaprio To Play Serial Killer

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday December 16, 2011 @ 6:01pm PSTTags: Graham Moore, Leonardo DiCaprio, The Black List, The Imitation Game, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has acquired The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic And Madness At The Fair That Changed America, the 2003 non-fiction book by Erik Larson. The studio has set Graham Moore to script the story of … Read More »

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HBO Lands Leonardo DiCaprio Project With New Regency Titled ‘Beat The Reaper’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday December 14, 2011 @ 2:49pm PSTTags: HBO, Leonardo DiCaprio, New Regency
Nellie Andreeva

Leonardo DiCaprioEXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, HBO has bought Beat The Reaper, a drama series project from New Regency executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. The project, which feature scribes Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Ocean’s Thirteen) are writing, executive producing and attached to direct, is based on the debut book by physician/novelist Josh Bazell. It is a criminal/medical thriller about a young ER doctor whose life is upended when a patient comes through his ward that recognizes the internist from his old life — when he used to work for a notorious crime family. As his past comes crashing back and his enemies from his old life try to destroy him, he tries to hold his new life together while discovering that everything he knew about his past may have been wrong.

New RegencyNew Regency co-produces the HBO project with DiCaprio’s Appian Way and Rick Yorn’s LBI Entertainment. The three companies first came together three years ago when New Regency acquired  rights to the book just as it was published in January 2009 for a feature film. Julie Yorn, DiCaprio and Appian Way’s Jennifer Davisson Killoran were attached to produce the movie, once eyed as a potential starring Beat The Reapervehicle for DiCaprio, with Koppelman and Levien set to write. DiCaprio, Koppleman, Levien, Davisson Killoran and Julie Yorn will now executive produce the HBO series version, along with New Regency founder/majority owner Arnon Milchan and former chairmen Bob Harper and Hutch Parker who brought the book to the indie production company. Harper and Parker left New Regency at the end of August and were succeeded by new president/CEO Brad Weston. As part of his review of the company’s development slate, Weston identified Beat The Reaper as better suited as a TV series. The project garnered interest from four networks before landing at HBO. Read More »

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SAG Awards Movies: Full of Surprises And Omissions; Will Oscar Follow Suit?

By PETE HAMMOND | Wednesday December 14, 2011 @ 9:07am PSTTags: Brad Pitt, Bridesmaids, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams, SAG, Screen Actors Guild Awards, The Artist, The Help
Pete Hammond

SAG Awards TV: Rookies Join The Fray
SAG Awards Nominations

Leave it to SAG to throw a few surprises into the season. Although countless critics awards groups have been weighing in with their 2011 movie picks for the past two … Read More »

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Fox 2000 EVP Carla Hacken Becomes New Regency Production President

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday November 18, 2011 @ 12:15pm PSTTags: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Alexandra Milchan, Arnon Milchan, Bob Harper, Brad Pitt, Brad Weston, Darren Aronofsky, Elizabeth Gabler, Hutch Parker, James Gray, Jim Gianopulos, Laura Ziskin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, New Regency, Rodney Ferrell, Russell Crowe, Sanford Panitch, Sean Penn, Tom Rothman
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Longtime Fox 2000 EVP Carla Hacken is leaving the studio to become president of production for New Regency. It is the latest move in a restructuring of the company since Arnon Milchan reemerged as an active chairman and installed … Read More »

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Clint Eastwood’s ‘J. Edgar’ Opens Strong

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday November 10, 2011 @ 6:42am PSTTags: Clint Eastwood, J. Edgar, Leonardo DiCaprio, Warner Bros

Early estimates from Warner Bros has J. Edgar bowing to a low-key but healthy midweek $53,000 in limited runs Wednesday in 7 theatres in 5 cities — LA, NY, Chicago, Washington DC, and San Francisco. That was good enough for 12th place at … Read More »

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Parody: Can Leo Win Oscar For ‘J. Edgar’?

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday November 9, 2011 @ 3:45am PSTTags: J. Edgar, Leonardo DiCaprio

J. Edgar opens limited runs today in 7 theatres in 5 cities — LA, NY, Chicago, Washington DC, and San Francisco — and nationwide on Friday in 1,910 locations. So Funny Or Die just posted this trenchant video mashup about Leonardo DiCaprio’s pursuit of the Best Actor Oscar past and … Read More »

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OSCARS: ‘J. Edgar’ Campaign Rolls Into High Gear With Eastwood, DiCaprio, Watts, Hammer At Packed Screenings, Q&As

By PETE HAMMOND | Saturday November 5, 2011 @ 12:11pm PDTTags: 84th Annual Academy Awards, Academy Awards, AFI Fest, Armie Hammer, Clint Eastwood, J. Edgar, Kathryn Bigelow, Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts
Pete Hammond

With its splashy world premiere as the opening-night film of AFI Fest on Thursday and a series of Q&As and receptions, Warner Bros’ campaign for J. Edgar — one of its big Oscar hopefuls — swung into high gear this week. In addition to the hoopla around the premiere, director Clint Eastwood did a DGA screening and discussion with Academy directing governor and fellow DGA and Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow on Tuesday night; stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts and Armie Hammer appeared for a Q&A in front of a packed-to-the-rafters SAG audience on Wednesday night (I moderated that one); and on Friday they all appeared for yet another screening, Q&A and reception at the LA County Art Museum. The latter was a prelude to Saturday night’s inaugural Art + Film gala, where Eastwood is being honored. Warners plans many more voter opps like these in the coming weeks.

First reviews of the film that opens next week are mixed to good depending on what you read and who you talk to (Rotten Tomatoes has it at 57% fresh, but only seven reviews are up so far). But it is done in classic and classy Eastwood style and, whatever the ultimate commercial and critical fate of the film, it is absolutely clear DiCaprio has a strong stake on a Best Actor Oscar nomination. As the complex and controversial FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, DiCaprio ages from his 20s to late 70s with seeming ease and has some heavy dramatic scenes — including one in which he dons his dead mother’s dress and another fight/kiss encounter with Hammer, who expertly plays his constant companion Clyde Tolson (and could be a Supporting Actor contender himself). Older Academy voters who remember Hoover should particularly respond to this well-crafted look at his complicated personal and professional life. Read More »

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Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn Wanted Men For New Regency’s ‘The Revenant’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday November 4, 2011 @ 2:49pm PDTTags: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Now that New Regency closed a deal to fully fund the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-directed The Revenant, the Biutiful helmer has set his sights on Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean … Read More »

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Leo And Kate Ready To Sail Again As Oscar Champ ‘Titanic’ Shows Off 3D Conversion

By PETE HAMMOND | Friday October 28, 2011 @ 3:52pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, 3D, James Cameron, Jon Landau, Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paramount, Titanic, Titanic 3D
Pete Hammond

Are you ready to go back to Titanic?

That is not just a famous line from the 1997 Oscar-winning box office phenomenon, they are also the words producer Jon Landau used this morning in front of a packed theater of journalists at Paramount to introduce 18 minutes of the film’s new 3D conversion.  Paramount and 20th Century Fox — which holds international rights after bringing in Paramount to be domestic distributor when the film was sailing way over budget — will open the new 3D-converted Titanic on April 6, 2012. That’s just days before the 100th anniversary of the ship’s maiden launch on April 10, 1912.

“We didn’t want to release it on the day of the sinking, we wanted it to be about the ship itself, but obviously it sank,” said the film’s writer/director/co-producer/co-editor and all-around King of the World James Cameron, who explained that with the 100th anniversary of the fabled ship’s sailing the time was right not only for 3D but to bring the movie back for a new theatrical experience — even though it has been out in various video formats for years. “It has to do with the psychology of going to a theater. We make a committment to spend those two or three hours in a shared experience with others … and there is a whole generation that hasn’t seen it at all,” Cameron said, adding that in the modern world of cell phones, texting, emailing and other distractions, it is hard to get the full intended impact of a film like this at home.

Of course, Cameron has publicly stated he isn’t a fan of 3D conversions for films that have a choice. But he makes an exception for those “20 or 30 classic films out there” that can find a new audience with the format, and Titanic fit the bill. “I love 3D; if I had the 3D cameras at the time, I certainly would have loved to have shot the film with them,” he said. When I spoke with him afterwards in the lobby, his enthusiasm was infectious for the film and the new technologies he now has at his disposal to give it new life. He said the whole movie would have been shot differently today than in 1997: Rather than building those massive ship sets, he would have relied much more heavily on CGI and other techniques than the not-so-cost-effective way they did it then. He said that fortunately for him the film made money (that’s an understatement), but it could have had a very different outcome. In other words, a lot of dice were rolled on Titanic, which of course went on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time until Cameron’s own Avatar usurped it a couple of years ago. It would now take another billion or so for it to come back from the video bins and topple Avatar — an unlikely outcome — but one informed source working on the new re-release told me another “4 or 5″ (hundred million) could be in play. Certainly Disney’s success with The Lion King’s 3D conversion is whetting appetities all over Hollywood for the boxoffice possibilities of library titles. Read More »

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Kerry Washington Lands ‘Django Unchained’ Lead

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday October 26, 2011 @ 8:29am PDTTags: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained, Film Castings, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Quentin Tarantino
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Kerry Washington has won the role of Broomhilda in Django Unchained. Director Quentin Tarantino made his choice and The Weinstein Company began exclusive negotiations with her CAA reps last night. She’ll play the long-suffering slave wife of Django (Jamie … Read More »

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Leonardo DiCaprio Jumps Into Tech Startup Scene With Mobli

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday October 25, 2011 @ 9:37pm PDTTags: Ashton Kutcher, Internet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lukas Haas

Joining the ranks of Ashton Kutcher, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga in promoting tech startups, Leonardo DiCaprio has surfaced as one of a group of investors who put up $4 million in seed money for visual social media … Read More »

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Acting Teacher Larry Moss Makes Feature Directing Debut With Chekhov Adaptation

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday October 17, 2011 @ 9:49am PDTTags: David Duchovny, Helen Hunt, Hilary Swank, Jim Carrey, Justin Timberlake, Leonardo DiCaprio, Maggie Grace, Tea Leoni, Tobey Maguire
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Larry Moss has set Helen Hunt, David Duchovny, Maggie Grace, Joan Chen and John Robinson to star in Relative Insanity, a contemporary Hampons-set adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull. Pier 3 Pictures’ Michael Din and Juri Henley-Cohn wrote the … Read More »

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EXCLUSIVE! Matt Reeves Is Warner Bros’ Pick For ‘Twilight Zone’ Movie

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Saturday October 15, 2011 @ 10:52am PDTTags: Jacob Aaron Estes, Jennifer Davisson Killoran, Kenneth Oppel, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Reeves, Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Let Me In and Cloverfield director Matt Reeves has been chosen by Warner Bros to direct The Twilight Zone, the Jason Rothenberg-scripted thriller based on the classic Rod Serling TV series. Negotiations will get underway early next week, but … Read More »

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