Despite being one of the greatest actors of our generation, Leonardo DiCaprio is still chasing that Oscar gold. As he moves further into his career, he seems to be taking on more and more roles in hopes of courting an Academy Award. Though he failed with recent efforts like J. Edgar and The Great Gatsby, he’s now trying again with a biopic focused on former US President, Woodrow Wilson.
Set to star in and produce the film, through his Appian Way production company, the Warner Bros. film will be based on A. Scott Berg’s biography and is currently untitled, though many expect it to be called Wilson, after the book.
If you’re unfamiliar with the recent biography, check out a summary of it below:
One hundred years after his inauguration, Woodrow Wilson still stands as one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, and one of the most enigmatic. And now, after more than a decade of research and writing, Pulitzer Prize-winning author A. Scott Berg has completed Wilson–the most personal and penetrating biography ever written about the 28th President.
In addition to the hundreds of thousands of documents in the Wilson Archives, Berg was the first biographer to gain access to two recently-discovered caches of papers belonging to those close to Wilson. From this material, Berg was able to add countless details–even several unknown events–that fill in missing pieces of Wilson’s character and cast new light on his entire life.
From the scholar-President who ushered the country through its first great world war to the man of intense passion and turbulence , from the idealist determined to make the world “safe for democracy” to the stroke-crippled leader whose incapacity and the subterfuges around it were among the century’s greatest secrets, the result is an intimate portrait written with a particularly contemporary point of view – a book at once magisterial and deeply emotional about the whole of Wilson’s life, accomplishments, and failings. This is not just Wilson the icon – but Wilson the man.
Though not the most well-known or well-recognized President out there, Wilson was still an interesting figure and there’s a lot of material in his life that would translate well to the big screen. With DiCaprio set to star, you can bet that Warner Bros. will fill out the rest of the film with some big names. And, once they do, Wilson will be in prime position for some Academy Awards.
Tell us, what do you think of Leonardo DiCaprio playing Woodrow Wilson? Let us know in the comments section below.