Leonardo DiCaprio is in final talks to produce and star in a feature biopic about controversial cult leader Jim Jones, with Venom screenwriter Scott Rosenberg on board to pen the script.
According to Deadline, the film will chronicle the story of Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple religious group, who was responsible for orchestrating the mass suicide that claimed the lives of more than 900 people in November 1978 after he directed his followers based at the remote Jonestown settlement in Guyana to drink cyanide-laced punch.
The Jim Jones feature has reportedly been picked up by MGM in a preemptive situation that finds DiCaprio starring in the lead role as well as producing the picture alongside Jennifer Davisson under their Appian Way production banner. Rosenberg is also attached to the project as an executive producer, though no director has been confirmed at this time.
Over the course of his prolific career, DiCaprio has portrayed several real-life historical figures onscreen, with scene-stealing performances as former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, infamous aviation tycoon Howard Hughes, and cunning conman Frank Abagnale. The actor will next star in Adam McKay's Don't Look Up and Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon.
DiCaprio stars opposite Jennifer Lawrence in Don't Look Up, which follows two low-level astronomers who attempt, via a media tour, to warn mankind about an asteroid that will destroy Earth. Also starring Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Chris Evans, Jonah Hill, Timothée Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Rob Morgan, the film will premiere on Netflix on December 10.
While the cast is stacked for Netflix's Don't Look Up, this is actually DiCaprio's first film that will premiere exclusively on a streaming service after turning down many other roles. He is also starring in Killers of the Flower Moon alongside Robert De Niro, though, which is being funded by Apple and will hit theaters as well as streaming on Apple TV+.
Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.