Leonardo DiCaprio to Portray Leonardo da Vinci in Paramount Biopic

Leonardo DiCaprio is set to play Leonardo da Vinci in a biopic based on Walter Isaacson's bestseller. Paramount and Universal are competing for the film rights, with Paramount reportedly leading due to its partnership with DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, run by Jennifer Davisson. DiCaprio will both star and produce. The project comes nearly 500 years after da Vinci's death. DiCaprio, whose name was inspired by the artist after his mother felt a kick at the Uffizi before a da Vinci painting, has a history of biographical roles: Frank Abagnale Jr. in *Catch Me If You Can* (2002), Howard Hughes in *The Aviator* (2004), and Hugh Glass in *The Revenant* (2015), which earned him an Oscar. Isaacson previously saw his Steve Jobs biography adapted into a 2015 film directed by Danny Boyle.