Having already made the leap from teenage heartthrob to Academy Award-winning thespian, it probably won’t be too much for Leonardo DiCaprio to again stretch himself -- this time producing and starring in a film based on the collapse of Enron Corp.DiCaprio, an Oscar nominee this year for his role as a morally-ambiguous diamond smuggler, will reportedly play a fictionalized new hire at Enron who uncovers an accounting scandal that eventually leads to the implosion of the energy giant.
Warner Bros. movie studio confirmed the plans this week. Hollywood trade Variety was the first to announce the deal last week, reporting that DiCaprio’s involvement was part of a package deal with screenwriter Sheldon Turner, who last penned a remake of “The Longest Yard.”
The studio reportedly paid seven figures for the rights to New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald’s, "Conspiracy of Fools," a book which chronicles the Enron debacle. According to trade Web sites, when DiCaprio might actually have the time to film the story is unclear. The actor and his production company, Apian Way, have been attached to adaptations of "Blink," "The Chancellor Manuscript” and a Martin Scorsese project, "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt." DiCaprio’s next film will be the global-warming documentary, “The 11th Hour,” which he co-wrote and narrates.
DiCaprio's film would be just the latest work of art to recount the downfall of Enron. In 2005 the documentary "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," was released based on a book of the same title by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind. The tale also made it to the stage as a musical in late 2006, in a Houston-based production penned by a local salesman.
