Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill Set To Team Up Again

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill are going to let the “good times roll.” Fresh from their Oscar nominated performances in The Wolf of Wall Street, DiCaprio and Hill are teaming up again in a bio pic about Richard Jewell. The story was written by Hunger Games screenwriter, Billy Ray.

The film will be based on Marie Brenner’s Vanity Fair article, “The Ballad of Richard Jewell,” and screen written by Ray. DiCaprio is set to portray Jewell’s attorney, while Hill will play the title role. If you don’t remember, Richard Jewell was the security guard who was accused of detonating a bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Jewell’s name was dragged through the mud as the accused bomber, but it was later learned that he did not do it, as he maintained all along.

DiCaprio and Hill will likely portray a much more sympathetic version of Jewell than the media initially created back in 1996. Jewell’s timeline of events went something like this: Discover the bomb-laden backpack, report it, and help clear sports fans from the area before it exploded. He likely expected to be talked about as a hero.

Jewell described what had happened to him in the aftermath of reporting the bomb that he discovered. Instead of being crowned the hero, he became the prime suspect three days after the bombing, and subjected to as intense media scrutiny as anyone had ever experienced to that point. As Jewell himself said:

“The papers were on me like a piranha on a bleeding cow.”

DiCaprio and Hill will co-produce the Fox movie with Kevin Misher, Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Andy Berman. Billy Ray, the screenwriter, is one of the industry’s most respected veterans, having recent received an Oscar nomination for Captain Phillips. This project, with its stars – DiCaprio and Hill – and the writer, is shaping up to become another blockbuster for Leo.

Given how many projects are in development for DiCaprio, it’s unknown when exactly this film would move forward into production. But Fox’s expedience in acquiring rights to the story and hiring the “Captain Phillips” writer show the studio views it as a major priority.

Following Wolf of Wall Street, DiCaprio was nominated for Best Actor, with Hill up for Best Supporting Actor, but both lost to “Dallas Buyers Club’s” Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto respectively.

DiCaprio’s involvement in this project marks a shift for the star who has been working almost exclusively in Martin Scorsese films, with The Wolf of Wall Street marking the fifth time the two have teamed up.

Will this new project finally net Leo that Oscar?

[Image via Tiffany Rose/WireImage]