Leonardo DiCaprio Courted for Spy Thriller

The Hollywood Reporter says Leonardo DiCaprio is in negotiations to star in "The Chancellor Manuscript," an adaptation/update of Rober Ludlum's 1977 spy thriller.

In the book, the fictional contraptions and power dealings concocted by author Peter Chancellor hit a little too close to reality, forcing Chancellor to go on the run.

"Chancellor" screenwriter Michael Seitzman is tickled with DiCaprio's involvement: "This is not pap, but there really is no one better for this than Leo. The author is supposed to be an author, not an action hero. You're supposed to buy him as a gifted intellectual."

"Pap"? Anyone know what that means?

Additional production details on "The Chancellor Manuscript" have not been released. –

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Par booking 'Chancellor' for DiCaprio

By Borys Kit

Paramount Pictures is in final negotiations to pre-emptively acquire Robert Ludlum's political thriller "The Chancellor Manuscript" as a star vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio.

Michael Seitzman will write the adaptation, which will be produced by Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher's Red Wagon Entertainment, DiCaprio's Appian Way and the Ludlum estate.

The novel was published in 1977, though the big-screen version will be updated. DiCaprio will play novelist Peter Chancellor, who is writing a thriller about Washington power brokers being blackmailed with information gathered by intelligence agencies in order to alter U.S. policy. When Chancellor's work of fiction turns out to have stumbled into reality, he ends up on a run for his life, becoming like a character from his own novel.

"Michael Seitzman's reinvention of this story captures all the twists and paranoia that was part of the Ludlum genius but also takes on the contemporary relevance of the material," Paramount Pictures president Gail Berman said.

Seitzman, who penned the untitled Niki Caro project starring Charlize Theron, had been in love with the book since reading it when he was 10. He pitched his updated take to the studio, which then pre-emptively started to buy the rights.

"We live in this crazy post-Patriot Act environment where Benjamin Franklin's warning that those that give up essential liberties for temporary security don't deserve either one are being ignored, so the subject matter seemed ripe," Seitzman said in an interview.

Of DiCaprio, he added: "This is not pap, but there really is no one better for this than Leo. The author is supposed to be an author, not an action hero. You're supposed to buy him as a gifted intellectual. Chancellor has only imagined the world outside his four walls, but now, not only does he have to be a participant in it, he has to save it."

Red Wagon president Bobby Cohen will oversee the project along with Brad Simpson of Appian Way for their respective companies. Jeffrey Weiner and Henry Morrison will supervise for the Ludlum estate, while Paramount co-president, production Alli Shearmur will shepherd the project for the studio.

Ludlum's work has been enjoying a renaissance in Hollywood since "The Bourne Identity" became a hit for Universal in 2002. Universal made a sequel, "The Bourne Supremacy," in 2004 and also is developing "The Sigma Protocol."

Seitzman, who is adapting "The Sparrow" for Brad Pitt to star, is repped by ICM, Industry Entertainment and attorney Craig Emanuel.

The Ludlum estate is repped by ICM and Morrison.

DiCaprio, who is filming "The Departed" for Martin Scorsese, is repped by the Firm and by Steve Warren of Hansen, Jacobson, Teller & Hoberman.

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Leonardo DiCaprio to star in "The Chancellor Manuscript"

From Rebecca Murray

Based on the Political Thriller by Robert Ludlum

Final negotiations are underway in Paramount Pictures' bid to acquire the rights to make a movie based on the Robert Ludlum novel, "The Chancellor Manuscript."

If Paramount is successful, the updated version of "The Chancellor Manuscript" will unite Red Wagon Entertainment and Appian Way production companies to produce the film, with Leonardo DiCaprio eyed to star in the big screen adaptation of Ludlum's political thriller.

The film version of "The Chancellor Manuscript" was updated by screenwriter Michael Seitzman who fell in love with the Ludlum story when he was a kid. The story follows a novelist, Peter Chancellor, who stumbles onto a blackmail scheme while writing a novel that inadvertently parallels real events.

Leonardo DiCaprio is currently at work on "The Departed" with director Martin Scorsese.

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Leonardo DiCaprio in Ludlum Adaptation

Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star in an adaptation of Robert Ludlum's The Chancellor Manuscript for Paramount Pictures.

In the movie, DiCaprio will play Peter Chancellor, who turns in a novel about D.C. power brokers who are blackmailed into altering U.S. policies. When some operatives get hold of the manuscript, they think he has uncovered their actual scheme and they try to hunt the author down.

Paramount will spend $4 million to acquire the rights to Ludlum's political thriller and another $1 million for an adaptation by Michael Seitzman. Seitzman wrote Class Action (to star Charlize Theron), The Sparrow (to star Brad Pitt) and will also direct his script Storming the Court for Warner Bros

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