Leonardo DiCaprio eyes up Prisoners

How many times can a script change hands?

Fans of Superman and Watchmen know all too well just how protracted a process it can be for a film to go from script to screen.

Well, scribe Aaron Guzikowski's no stranger to the process either. His Prisoners script has been doing the rounds for nigh on a year, with little joy. Described as Mystic River meets Taken , it first went to Bryan Singer, who wanted to direct Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale.

When that didn’t happen, Antoine Fuqua ( Training Day ) came onboard to produce a small budget version with Hugh Jackman.

Now news comes that Leonardo DiCaprio has taken the script under his wing and is setting things up over at Warner Bros. He’s keen to play the lead part, a carpenter who takes the law into his own hands when his daughter and friend are kidnapped.

However, DiCaprio says he’ll only star if he can land the right director for the film. Which obviously means he’s looking for somebody big; somebody along the lines of Scorsese or Chris Nolan.

Alcon executive Andrew Kosove says:

“In the 12 years we've run this company, this is the most interesting, morally complex thriller we've ever gotten, and we can't wait to make the movie.”

Does that mean it’ll be a piece of cake for DiCaprio to grab a big name director? We’ll have to wait and see.

Want to see DiCaprio imprisoned? Talk to us...

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.