Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, currently shooting their third film together in a row, The Departed, really want to keep up the love affair. They keep talking about the next project they’re going to do – a few months back it was a remake of Kurosawa’s Drunken Angel.
Now the duo are talking about making a Teddy Roosevelt biopic. Paramount Pictures has optioned Edmund Morris’ Pulitzer winning book The Rise of Teddy Roosevelt, which follows the 26th president from his boyhood as a slight, frail kid to his time as a Rough Rider and finally his ascension to the presidency. Along the way he invented teddy bears, in case you were wondering.
Leo seems a completely incorrect choice for this role, but you have to assume that Marty knows the kid by now. Obviously he sees something in Leo that shouts San Juan Hill or manly man. And if they’re going to follow the guy to the presidency, Leo’s going to have to start snacking more.
Of course the likelihood is (if this film even happens) the story will focus on a specific aspect of Roosevelt’s early life, quite possibly his time as the police chief for New York City around the end of the 19th century. That certainly fits in with Scorsese’s interests, and presents a reasonably younger Roosevelt for Leo to play.