It's a big day for Naked Gun alumni. First the Queen scored a BAFTA and now it's Mikhail Gorbachev turn. The former Soviet premier is going to be the subject of an HBO Films movie produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. Frank Drebin would smell some kind of conspiracy.
**Gorbachev **will be written by John Shiban, erstwhile showrunner on AMC's Hell On Wheels, and major on his role in shepherding democracy into the Soviet block via his twin policies of glasnost and perestroika. Gorbachev himself has served as a consultant on the project which will ensure either high levels of accuracy or scenes where his character gets to kiss really hot girls. We're guessing the former.
DiCaprio, who met Gorbachev while working on environmental doc The 11th Hour, will produce under his Appian Way banner, with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone helping usher this onto the screen.
This isn't the only project currently examining the Russian's legacy. On the big screen, Mike Newell's Reykjavikwill dramatise his crucial 1986 summit with Ronald Reagan in the Icelandic city. Christoph Waltz will play Gorbachev in that one opposite Michael Douglas who reprise US prez duties as Reagan.