Killers of the Flower Moon - Leonardo DiCaprio, J.J. Abrams

[Walts Ghost]

Leonardo DiCaprio, J.J. Abrams May Team for “Killers of the Flower Moon”

One of the hottest bidding wars in Hollywood over the past couple of days has been over the rights to new book by David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: An American Crime and the Birth of the FBI. Per The Wrap, the nonfiction story is “about the mysterious murders of the Osage Indians tribe in Oklahoma, where oil sat rich beneath their land. The case was turned over to a brand new law enforcement agency known as the FBI, which fought against corruption to solve the case.” Grann, a writer for the New Yorker, previously penned the bestseller The Lost City of Z, which is due to finally arrive in theaters later this year.

According to The Wrap, Flower Moon has ignited a bidding war that has already reached a reported $2 million and it looks like Leonardo DiCaprio, director J.J. Abrams, and Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) are teaming up with Paramount to score the rights. There are higher bids on the table, including George Clooney directing and Amy Pascal producing, but the power of two Oscar-winners plus the director of one of the highest-grossing films of all time is too powerful of a package to decline.

If they do land the rights, it’s not confirmed that DiCaprio would star and Abrams would direct, but presumably that’s what roles they’ll take on in addition to producing under their respective banners, Appian Way and Bad Robot.