DiCaprio Signs 'The Chancellor Manuscript'

Another Ludlum feature getting adapted.

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Monday, May 23rd 2005 at 7:46 AM

With the success of the Bourne features it is no big surprise that another of his novels is going to get the feature film adaptation treatment, this time it is The Chancellor Manuscript with Leonardo DiCaprio set to star.

The film is being set up at Paramount Pictures who spent $4 million to acquire the rights to the political thriller which will find DiCaprio playing Peter Chancellor, who turns in a novel about D.C. power brokers who are blackmailed into altering U.S. policies. When some operatives get hold of the manuscript, they think he has uncovered their actual scheme and they try to hunt the author down.

The deal is the largest amount of money spent on a book adaptation so far this year and an extra million was spent on writer Michael Seitzman to adapt the feature. Seitzman was the scribe behind the upcoming Charlize Theron feature Untitled Niki Caro Project for director Niki Caro. A director has not yet been named.

The Ludlum novel was penned in 1977 and is being updated to modern times and with such a large amoutn of money being thrown at the story other studios are expected to quickly tackle the Ludlum library before the bidding gets astronomical.