Leonardo Dicaprio’s birthday is a mere month away, so perhaps Warner Brothers thought it was time to finally buy him that rave-reviewed script about a tortured mathematical genius he’s always asking for.
According to Deadline the studio stomped their way into a bidding war between a big batch of indie companies who were after the script, all because Leo is interested in starring (and Ron Howard might be open to directing it). The script is hot hot hot because, apparently, it’s just that damn good. Written by Graham Moore based on a biographic novel by Andrew Hodges, the script is said to be impeccably written as a sort of “King’s Speech with a downer ending,” while Moore’s first novel has also garnered great praise in the literary world. A powerful new writer could be emerging here.
Turing has been immortalized since his death in everything from stamp sets to statues, plays to TV movies (one in which he was portrayed by Derek Jacobi), and he is the namesake for what is ostensibly the Nobel Prize of computer science. The man was a famous wartime codebreaker and built machines that helped undo German ciphers before moving on and making huge innovations in early computing. His story is a tragic one though, as he was a homosexual that actually found himself in court and ultimately punished with chemical castration in the UK. Apple’s logo is often (wrongly) credited as being a tribute to the manner in which Turing died: ingesting a cyanide-laced apple.
His story is definitely one filled with more than enough passion, drama, and tragedy to make a Ron Howard weepy, but I hope something more interesting comes from a movie of this man’s life. Fortunately it’s the quality of the script that is driving so much interest, so hopefully that quality makes it through the machine.
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