Well, it looks like the on screen chemistry between co-stars Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio was not a fluke. The real life friends will follow up their success in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET with a movie about the bombings of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. The difference will be that in this film, Jonah Hill will be the main star with DiCaprio taking a supporting role.
Based on the Vanity Fair article “The Ballad Of Richard Jewell”, the film will star Hill as Jewell.
Jewell was the security guard who discovered a backpack in the Olympics compound in Atlanta in 1996. Initially hailed a hero for reporting the suspicious knapsack and then helping clear bystanders from the area before it exploded, Jewell was subsequently vilified just three days later as a potential suspect, his life and reputation torn apart in the advent of the 24 hour news cycle. Leonardo DiCaprio will play a lawyer Jewell knew casually, a Southern attorney who mostly did real estate closings and seemed in over his head, but he guided Jewell through a hellish Twilight Zone that went on even after the FBI officially cleared Jewell’s name three months later.
We all know DiCaprio’s talents as a dramatic actor and now thanks to THE WOLF OF WALL STREET we know he has comedic timing as well. Hill has begun proving himself an adept actor of both genres thanks to turns in MONEYBALL, CYRUS, and the upcoming TRUE STORY. I liked the dynamic between the two in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and I am looking forward to seeing where this could go.
