The story of Rasputin is more legend these days than recounted history. What we know is that the Russian Tsar Nicholas II brought Grigori Rasputin into their home as a healer for their son, Tsarevich Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia. We also know Rasputin was murdered sometime in December of 1916 but everything in between is a bit of a mystery. There are ample books written about the man, but most of what we think know today is more hearsay and legend than anything. Let’s put it this way; if all you know about Rasputin you learned from the animated ANASTASIA, then you probably don’t know anything about the man.
But Leonardo DiCaprio might change that. Warner Bros. has bought a pitch from screenwriter Jason Hall that is basically a biopic of Rasputin and none other than Leonardo DiCaprio himself is attached to the film. Before you get too excited, know that there’s no script and no director, which means Leo still has to approve of both before he actually signs on the dotted line. But for now, WB has him attached. Jason Hall has become a bit of a hot commodity lately, recently writing the script for the Bradley Cooper starring and Steven Spielberg directed AMERICAN SNIPER along with a script for David Finkel’s book THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. But the real question is how far will they go with the Rasputin story. It would be hard to imagine a movie about Rasputin that didn’t touch on the supernatural element that has grown from his legend. (Deadline)
