Leonardo DiCaprio in final talks to play cult leader Jim Jones

Last Updated on November 9, 2021

Jim Jones was the charismatic preacher behind the People’s Temple, a religious group that wound up building a commune called Jonestown in Guyana that came to an end when he orchestrated a mass suicide that took over 900 lives. The tragic event is set to be brought to the big screen as Deadline has reported that Leonardo DiCaprio is in final talks to star as Jim Jones for MGM.

Jim Jones is set to be scripted by Scott Rosenberg (Jumanji: The Next Level), with Deadline saying that MGM snatched the rights in a seven-figure deal. In addition to playing Jim Jones, Leonardo DiCaprio will also produce the movie through his Appian Way production company.

As tragic as the Jonestown massacre was, it’s an event that I’ve always been fascinated by. Jim Jones gained followers when he promoted the Peoples Temple as a fully integrated congregation, which was fairly rare in the mid-50s, but by the 1970s, Jones has abandoned Christianity and started to claim that he was God. He began constructing Jonestown as a “socialist paradise” free from the oppression of the U.S. government, but when rumours of human rights abuses began trickling out of Jonestown, U.S. Representative Leo Ryan was sent to investigate the claims. Ryan and several others would later be gunned down as they attempted to leave from the airstrip, which prompted Jim Jones to call upon his members, including hundreds of children, to kill themselves by drinking Flavor Aid laced with Cyanide.

Jim Jones is exactly the type of role that Leonardo DiCaprio could dominate; Charismatic, intense, paranoid, it’s going to be a ride. DiCaprio will next be seen starring alongside Jennifer Lawrence in Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up. The sci-fi black comedy “tells the story of two low-level astronomers, who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet earth.” The film will be released on Netflix on December 24, 2021.