The Wolf of Wall Street co-stars Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio are set to reteam as 20th Century Fox has acquired the rights to Marie Brenner‘s Vanity Fair article, “American Nightmare: The Ballad Of Richard Jewell” centered on suspected bomber-turned-pariah Richard Jewell after he was falsely accused of the 1996 bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Here’s the VF lede-in to the piece:
On July 30, 1996, the media identified Richard Jewell as the F.B.I.’s prime suspect in the Olympic Park bombing. For the first time, the 34-year-old security guard tells his extraordinary story: his brief moment as a national hero, his hounding by the Feds and the press, and his eccentric friendship with the unknown southern lawyer who helped him through his public torment.
Hill would play Jewell with DiCaprio playing the “southern lawyer”. The film doesn’t yet have a director, but if anyone is still wondering why Hill would accept a mere $60,000 to star in Wolf of Wall Street I think another Oscar nomination later and a second chance to team with DiCaprio on a high profile project answers that question. [Deadline]
In other news, Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe have joined Gus Van Sant‘s new project Sea of Trees. The film comes from a script by Chris Sperling, which actually made the 2013 Black List where it was described as follows:
An American man takes a journey into the infamous “Suicide Forest” at the foothills of Mount Fuji with the intention of taking his own life. When he is interrupted by a Japanese man who has had second thoughts about his own suicide, and is trying to find his way out of the forest, the two begin a journey of reflection and survival.
If it isn’t clear who would play whom, McConaughey will play the “American man” while Watanabe will play the “Japanese man”. Production is expected to begin shortly. [The Wrap]
