Leonardo DiCaprio Rumored To Star In Evel Knievel Film For Damien Chazelle [Report]

It’s Friday, so in that lenient sense, it’s time for some rumors we might not usually touch. In this case, it’s a scoop on Damien Chazelle’s next film, courtesy of Daniel Richtman. So what’s Chazelle’s follow-up to his divisive 2022 opus “Babylon” reportedly going to be?

READ MORE: Damien Chazelle Has His Sixth Feature Set Up At Paramount

Well, if Richtman’s scoop is true, then it’s a biopic about legendary stuntman Evil Knievel, with Leonardo DiCaprio attached to star and “The Departed” screenwriter William Monahan set to pen the script. On paper, that all sounds pretty good, if a little familiar. And that’s because it is. Back in 2015, Darren Aronofsky circled a similar project for a time, with Channing Tatum starring, but it never came to pass.

So, is this package legit? No one knows until Paramount, the studio producing Chazelle’s sixth film, makes an official announcement. But Chazelle fans have waited to hear what his next movie will be since it was confirmed at CinemaCon back in April. It’s been eight months since then, so it’s about time Paramount made something public about the project.

Whatever Chazelle’s next film ends up being, the director expects it to have a smaller budget than “Babylon.” Does an Evil Knievel biopic work with that notion? Maybe, but DiCaprio’s involvement will include a massive salary. The actor was paid $20 million to star in P.T. Anderson’s upcoming “The Battle Of Baktan Cross,” which is ~1/6-1/7 of that film’s budget. In comparison, “Babylon” cost Paramount $80 million, with that movie only making $64.9 million at the box office. If Chazelle’s next film has a more modest budget than “Babylon,” does it make sense to have DiCaprio star in it?

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But that’s all speculation at this point. Still, if this project happens, it’ll be interesting to see Chazelle and DiCaprio team up for the first time. And it’s an intriguing role for DiCaprio, now 50, who’s increasingly selective in the projects he chooses. However, this could all be a bunch of hokum, or premature, so let’s wait and see if this scoop develops into something official.