According to Deadline, Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio is currently in the final negotiations for the leading role in MGM’s forthcoming biographical film titled Jim Jones. DiCaprio is set to portray the role of the titular 1970s cult leader, who was the one responsible for the mass murder of more than 900 people from his religious organization.
MGM’s Jim Jones movie will be written by Scott Rosenberg (Venom). It will be produced by DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson through their Appian Way banner.
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In 1955, Jones founded the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis, where he promoted Christian Socialism. By the 1970s, he became more infamous after he openly rejected traditional Christianity and has even proclaimed himself as god. He then went on to build a small community in Guyana called Jonestown, where he convinced his followers to live there with him, enticing them of a socialist paradise that would be free from the U.S. government’s oppression.
However, by the late 1970s, reports had circulated about human rights abuses within Jonestown, which prompted the American government to send a delegation led by U.S. Representative Leo Ryan to investigate these claims. Unfortunately, they were killed by Jones’ followers, who were instructed by Jones to shotgun them down. After that, another tragedy took place as Jones ordered a mass murder-suicide on November 18, 1978, which led to the deaths of 918 commune members, 304 of them were children, through cyanide poisoning.
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DiCaprio is best known for his acclaimed performances in a number of drama films such as What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Titanic, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, Inception, The Departed, Revolutionary Road, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Revenant. He will next be seen in Netflix’s dark comedy sci-fi film Don’t Look Up and in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon for Apple Studios.
