In what seemed to be quite a competitive bid, Paramount Pictures has acquired the upcoming feature Conquest set to reunite actor Leonardo DiCaprio with his The Revenant co-writer Mark L. Smith. After the seemingly unimaginable success of director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s survival epic (12 Oscar nominations, $144 million so far at the domestic box office), the bid was likely considerably contentious.
As the project is still in the very early stages, the plot is being kept secret for now. All that is known is that DiCaprio will star, Smith will write the screenplay and John Davis (Joy) will produce the project; no director was announced. Paramount has a fairly significant history with DiCaprio, having recently distributed The Wolf of Wall Street (the Martin Scorsese film earned the star Oscar nominations for both acting and producing), Shutter Island (also directed by Scorsese) and Revolutionary Road (a period drama that reunited DiCaprio with his Titanic partner Kate Winslet).
DiCaprio has a couple of other projects in various degrees of development, most enticing might The Devil in the White City, which may reunite the actor with Scorsese for the fifth time. The film, with screenplay by Captain Phillips Oscar nominee Billy Ray, centers around notorious 19th century serial killer Dr. HH Holmes. Currently the actor is primed to win his first Academy Award for his leading performance in The Revenant. DiCaprio has already taken home prizes from the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
We will stay tuned to further development on Conquest.
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