He narrowly avoided one notorious killer in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood…, will be caught up in the FBI investigation of another for Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming Killers of the Flower Moon, and now Leonardo DiCaprio has decided it’s time he embodied one of history’s biggest mass-murderers with the news that he is in talks to play 1970s cult leader Jim Jones.
According to Deadline, MGM have secured a deal for the Scott Rosenberg (Venom) penned script, and that DiCaprio will not only play the cult leader, but produce for his Appian Way company alongside Jennifer Davisson.
In 2018 DiCaprio co-produced Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle, a brilliant and detailed docuseries which charted the rise of Jones and his Peoples Temple followers, so the actor clearly has a lot of knowledge that he can tap into to play the charismatic Church leader.
Founded in Indianapolis in 1955, People’s Temple spread a message that combined elements of Christianity with communist and socialist ideology, and placed an emphasis on racial equality. However, Jones soon evolved to believing he was God, moved his people to a ‘paradise’ in Guyana, and when reports of human-rights abuse emerged, the interventions of authorities led to one of the most tragic events in U.S. history.
DiCaprio can be seen next in Adam McKay’s starry Netflix end-of-the-world drama Don’t Look Up, but let us know what you think of this potential Jim Jones casting by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
