Hello magazine - November 4, 2001
Leonardo DiCaprio to star as Alexander the Great under Martin Scorsese´s direction
24 OCTOBER 2001
Alexander the Great was not a man to do
things by halves. It seems appropriate, therefore, that when
Hollywood turns the spotlight on the ancient Greek hero, it
does so in epic style: Tinseltown currently has more than four
separate Alexander projects under development.
The
highest profile piece is a Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle written
by Oscar-winning scriptwriter Christopher McQuarrie of The
Usual Suspects and Jurassic Park III wordsmith
Peter Buchman.
Leo stars as the Macedonian king who
sets out to conquer the ancient world but ends up dying a
mysterious death at the age of 33. The Titanic actor,
whose most recent project, the period drama Gangs Of New
York, is still in postproduction and awaiting a release
date after being affected by the September 11 attacks, will
have to put his heroic role on hold for the time being,
however. He is committed to starring in the Steven Spielberg
production Catch Me If You Can co-starring Tom Hanks
through the early part of next year.
The writers for
the Alexander project pocketed a mid-seven-figure sum for the
script, and the big-screen history lesson is being billed as a
“multimillion-dollar epic”. “We have paid a significant figure
for this excellent script as we believe Alexander is
the perfect vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese
to join forces again following their successful collaboration
on Gangs Of New York,” says the CEO of the project’s US
production company, Graham King.
Writer McQuarrie was
originally to direct the project – until Martin Scorsese
showed an interest. “Buchman and I have been working on the
project for six years and it was always with the understanding
that that I would direct it,” McQuarrie told Daily
Variety magazine. “But when Martin calls, there’s no shame
in stepping aside.”
Other Alexander productions in
development are a Dino De Laurentiis-directed adaptation of a
trilogy of novels about the young Greek hero written by
Italian author and academic Valerio Manfredi, and an
adaptation by Born On The Fourth Of July director
Oliver Stone. Cable TV network HBO and production company
Intermedia also have Alexander projects underway.
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