Leonardo DiCaprio is never without a project under his belt, whether it’s an acting job or producing under his Appian Way banner. In this case, it’s both.
Warner Bros. has acquired Don Winslow’s bestselling novel “Satori” for DiCaprio to star in. Shane Salerno (SHAFT) will write the script with Winslow who will also produce with DiCaprio’s Appian Way partner Jennifer Killoran.
Deadline had some background on DiCaprio’s character as well as story info:
“DiCaprio will play Nicholai Hel, raised in Japan by a martial arts expert and genius at Go, the complex chess-like Japanese game. The master, a Japanese general, passes on all his secrets and the student repays him by murdering his mentor as an act of devotion; the military leader would have been disgraced and killed as a war criminal.”
“For that act, Hel is thrown in solitary confinement in a Tokyo prison, and tortured for three years. He is finally sprung by the CIA after agreeing to assassinate the Soviet commissioner to China. Hel is trained for the task by a beautiful French woman he falls in love with. Though he now sees a happy ending at the end of the dangerous assignment, Hel is betrayed by his backers, and, using his Go skills for strategy, makes his way through Vietnam hunted by American, Chinese, Russian and French intelligence agencies as well as a Corsican mob and Vietnamese criminal syndicate. It’s a sophisticated thriller and the studio sees potential for its own Jason Bourne-type action franchise.”
Good thing that Winslow will be co-writing with Salerno (he scripted AVP: REQUIEM). They recently partnered up for the adaptation of Winslow’s book, SAVAGES which completed production last with with Oliver Stone. That film is due out September 28, 2012 and stars Aaron Johnson, Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Benicio Del Toro, John Travolta, Salma Hayek and Emile Hirsch.
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed