Man, it’s hard to hate the career-path DiCaprio has carved for himself. After shedding the TITANIC teeny-bopper success, dude just continues to make challenging films with the best and most acclaimed filmmakers out there. And when he’s not doing that (or banging supermodels), he’s producing projects that are just as worthy. The most recent example? DiCaprio’s Appian Way and New Regency have just sold their medical thriller BEAT THE REAPER to HBO. Scope it…
According to Deadline, Brian Koppleman and David Levien (OCEAN’S THIRTEEN) are attached to write and direct BEAT THE REAPER, which they will adapt into a series from the Josh Bazell novel. The project is a peculiar one, dealing with the sort of psychological terror we saw DiCaprio plumb in SHUTTER ISLAND. Peep the synopsis I just pulled from Amazon:
Dr. Peter Brown is an intern at Manhattan’s worst hospital, with a talent for medicine, a shift from hell, and a past he’d prefer to keep hidden. Whether it’s a blocked circumflex artery or a plan to land a massive malpractice suit, he knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.
Pietro “Bearclaw” Brnwna is a hitman for the mob, with a genius for violence, a well-earned fear of sharks, and an overly close relationship with the Federal Witness Relocation Program. More likely to leave a trail of dead gangsters than a molecule of evidence, he’s the last person you want to see in your hospital room.
Nicholas LoBrutto, aka Eddy Squillante, is Dr. Brown’s new patient, with three months to live and a very strange idea: that Peter Brown and Pietro Brnwa might-just might-be the same person…
Now, with the mob, the government, and death itself descending on the hospital, Peter has to buy time and do whatever it takes to keep his patients, himself, and his last shot at redemption alive. To get through the next eight hours-and somehow beat the reaper.
Not bad at all, is it? I do wonder how the story will work as a TV series, but HBO rarely misses, so I’m sure it’ll be interesting in the early going at least.
Leo’s J. EDGAR co-star Naomi Watts
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed