Leonardo DiCapprio may be hitting the screen in yet another major way very soon, according to a Deadline exclusive. The Oscar winning star is in final discussions with MGM to star as Jim Jones in a film of the same name, following the story of the Jonestown mass suicide. DiCapprio will likely be both starring in and producing the film for Appian Way, his company, in tandem with Jennifer Davisson.

Jim Jones is one of the most horrifically, significantly notorious cult leaders of all time. In 1955, he founded the Peoples Temple. Jones proclaimed that this Indianapolis institution was to be a beacon of Christina Socialism. As is the way with most cult leaders, this message transitioned by the 1970s from Jones praising God to Jones being God.

He had amassed enough followers through his church that they went along with his logic. By the year 1974, he had built Jonestown. Following the surface intention of the Peoples Temple, this colony was, again, meant to be "a socialist paradise free from U.S. government oppression". Multiple claims of human rights abuse caught the ear of the American government. The representative sent by the government, Leo Ryan, to look into the cult was shot by Jim Jones loyals. After this, Jim Jones, through his manipulative levels of charisma, talked 918 commune members into drinking poisoned Flavor Aid, killing almost a thousand people.

The character Jim Jones also requires a prevelant, manipulative charisma. We know that DiCaprio will have no problem in the charisma department. Look at he and his girlfriend meet Jeff Bezos!


We look forward to hearing more about the production of Jim Jones!

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Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeff Bezos