Best buddies Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are currently working together for the third time, on The Departed. But since they can't bear to be apart, they're already looking at another possible project to work on together. With that in mind, Paramount has bought the rights to The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris, which they're developing for the loved-up pair.
As you'd expect, the film is indeed about the 26th American President, "Teddy" Roosevelt, and his transformation from a sickly boy and Harvard-educated member of the East Coast elite to a rancher and burly commander of the "Rough Riders" – following on from which he became Governor of New York, then Vice-President, and then President following the assassination of William McKinley.
Not only is he remembered as one of the greatest US Presidents, but he also has an entire genus of cuddly toy named after him, the teddy bear, apparently because he refused to kill a bear cub while out hunting once.
The screenplay is currently being developed by Nicholas Meyer, who previously worked on films including Fatal Attraction, Sommersby, The Human Stain and The Prince Of Egypt. Meyer said of Roosevelt, and the book he's working from, "We start at 25, as he begins to transform himself through sheer force of will from this asthmatic, nearsighted 125-pounder to this Sherman tank of a man, so tough that he once got shot on the way to make a speech and completed his talk, bleeding with a bullet in his chest".
DiCaprio should convince as the 125-pound weakling, but will have to bulk up a bit to convince as Roosevelt in later life. However, as in The Aviator, this is a manageable slice of an epic life that will give him a chance to flex his acting muscles. As for Scorsese, he's clearly enjoying putting his new leading man through his paces, and as a childhood asthmatic who also did rather well for himself, should find plenty to identify with.