Director David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) has agreed to adapt Legacy of Secrecy, with the intent of directing as well. Russell is in the final stages of his latest project, American Hustle, which premiers December 25, 2013.
Leonardo DiCaprio has been attached to the 2009 book, penned by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartman, since 2010. It is a passion project he has been developing with his father, comic book writer, George DiCaprio. It will be produced by Leo’s production company Appian Way.
The story is based on the claims of real-life FBI informant Jack Van Lavinham, who says he witnessed mafia boss Carlos Marcello confess to ordering the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. The FBI investigated Marcello following the assassination, but dismissed him as a suspect. Nonetheless, conspiracy theories abound as to the presence of a second shooter on the grassy knoll. Craig Van Lavinham, Jack Van Lanham’s real life son, is also involved with the production.
Robert DeNiro is already on board to play Marcello, while Leonardo is set to play Van Lavinham.
This year is the 50th anniversary of J.F.K.’s assassination, making it a hot subject for film production. Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman have the indie drama Parkland set to drop, which draws its title from the hospital that pronounced the President dead, and Cate Blanchett has just signed on to star in David Mamet’s thriller Blackbird, in which a woman learns that her grandfather may have been responsible for J.F.K.’s murder.
Principle photography for Legacy of Secrecy is scheduled to begin in 2015.
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