It's rare that we see a screenwriter hit the big time quite as fast as Jason Dean Hall, as he's lining up one high-profile gig after another. His career began with 2009's Spread, which featured a screenplay far better than the performance Ashton Kutcher gave it. He wrote the script for Paranoia which has Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman on board, and Disney was looking towards him to bring their Matterhorn film to the big screen. But his big break came when Steven Spielberg and Bradley Cooper took to his adaptation of American Sniper, and the director is now looking to work with him again on Thank You for Your Service. Now Hall has gained the interest of another A-list talent for his next project.
Warner Bros. has picked up Hall's pitch for a film centered on Rasputin, the early 20th century mystic, healer, and adviser to the Russian Imperial family. The project is being planned as a starring vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio, who will be producing through his Appian Way banner. Rasputin's influence was widely felt, with some looking at him as a prophet, but his unorthodox nature and sexual improprieties caused many to view him as a debauched religious charlatan. He gained a lot of enemies, and survived an earlier assassination attempt only to be murdered by political rivals in 1917. Hall's pitch caught DiCaprio's attention because it will focus on rarely highlighted aspects of Rasputin's life, such as his relationship with his twin brother who died at an early age.
It may be awhile before we see this one roll in front of cameras. A script still needs to be written and a director found, and all parties will need to give them the thumbs up. So chalk this down as an interesting potential project for DiCaprio, and another feather in Hall's cap. [Deadline]
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