Leonardo DiCaprio might just take on another real-life role, this time as Ian Fleming, the man who created James Bond. The LA Times says his production company just got involved with Fleming, the project written by Damian Stevenson, who has spent a great deal of time being vetted about the historical accuracy of his screenplay.
"It's the real James Bond," says Stevenson. "In England, Ian Fleming's exploits are much better well known. Talking to people out here, no one had any idea that M was based on a real person, Miss Moneypenny was based on a real person."
If the idea of an author writing a book about being a superspy sounds a little like the underrated gem Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, then it makes sense that one of that film's producers is on board with Fleming as well.
"It's going to be very different from the Bond films," says producer Andrew Lazar ("Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," "Get Smart"), who first championed the project. "There are a lot of different ways to crack biopics, but we're not trying to emulate a Bond movie . . . The idea that this guy's life informed the James Bond character is pretty fascinating."
Fleming was actually a journalist in Moscow, a Commander of Naval Intelligence during World War II and something of a playboy himself. The idea that the insane caricature that is James Bond is actually based on reality in any way seems unfathomable. Thus, Fleming might not only be a real eye-opener, but a really fun movie once it finally gets made.
