Buoyed by the success of The Revenant, both in financial and critical circles, Paramount has snapped up the rights for Conquest, a new project that will reunite Leonardo DiCaprio with screenwriter Mark L. Smith.
Smith co-wrote The Revenant alongside director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and given that the raw tour-de-force is one of the early frontrunners going into this year’s Academy Awards, it’s clear that Paramount is keen to reassemble its pool of talent. First reported by Deadline, it’s understood that the studio fended off several other bidders in its process of securing Conquest, though beyond that there’s little-to-no information regarding plot or setting.
Conquest is by no means the only DiCaprio-fronted project populating Paramount’s slate, with the fast-tracked (and indeed long-in-development) The Devil In The White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America poised to reunite the Oscar-nominated actor with his good-luck charm, Martin Scorsese.
Placing DiCaprio in the role of infamous serial killer H. H. Holmes, the project simply oozes with dramatic potential, and considering that the duo have crafted both The Wolf of Wall Street and Shutter Island under Paramount, Devil in the White City could complete something of a cinematic hat-trick.
As for Conquest, will the studio’s newfound project act as DiCaprio’s next movie? We’ll let you know when we find out.
