Leonardo DiCaprio is a busy boy these days.  Between his production company Appian Way collecting properties for him to star in and his building reputation as the go to leading man for some of the greatest directors working he won’t be short on projects any time soon.  Now he’s got another one to add to the list, Warner Brothers got their hands on the rights to Satori, the bestselling novel from Don Winslow that came out in May.  Shane Salerno* will be writing the script alongside Winslow.

If you’re like me and you haven’t read this book yet than this brief synopsis might help you gain some perspective on this project (or click over to the link  for Deadline which seems to give away a large number of plot points):

 “Leonardo DiCaprio [will] play a Westerner, raised in Japan and taught an assassin’s skills, who gets caught up in the chaos of post-WWII as the U.S., Soviet Union, France and China maneuver for power in Southeast Asia in the early 1950s.”

DiCaprio mining popular works of literature** isn’t anything new.  A few years back he attached himself (through Regency) to Beat the Reaper, another story about an assassin (well maybe more like mob muscle, but he does get a lot of killing done), but this time about one who becomes a doctor while in witness protection.  With DiCaprio’s attachment I picked up the book and really enjoyed it (with a fortuitous Saturday off work I was able to read through it in a day and a half) but have since heard nothing about intentions to bring the movie to the big screen.  Will Satori play out the same way or is something going to distinguish it that places it at the top of his very long list?  Either way it sounds like this might be a new book for me to pick up, Old Leo hasn’t steered me wrong so far.

Three questions:

  1. Do you want to see Leonardo DiCaprio in a 1950 assassin movie?
  2. Has anyone read Satori?
  3. If so does it come recommended or should Leo devote his time to more promising projects?

You can pick up Satori here. 

(via Deadline)

*Credits include… nothing encouraging, but to name a few Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem, Shaft, Hawaii Five-O, and New York Undercover.

**used in the broadest sense of the word until I actually read the book myself.