Leonardo DiCaprio Nears Deal to Play Cult Leader Jim Jones in Upcoming Film

Leonardo DiCaprio is in final talks to play religious cult leader Jim Jones in an upcoming MGM film, Variety reports. DiCaprio will also serve as a producer, along with Jennifer Davisson, under their Appian Way banner.  

Scott Rosenberg has been tapped to pen the script. His previous writing credits include 2018’s Venom, as well as Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Jumanji: The Next Level. 

According to Deadline, Jones founded the organization known as the Peoples Temple in 1955, established under the guise of a congregation promoting Christian Socialism. He, along with several close affiliates, orchestrated a mass murder-suicide in 1978 in which his followers drank a beverage laced with cyanide, killing over 900 members.  

Jones’ body was found dead that same year from a gunshot wound to his head. A autopsy later confirmed that his death was a suicide. 

DiCaprio is part of a star-studded cast that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Jonah Hill, Timothée Chalamet, and Meryl Streep in Netflix’s Don’t Look Up. The film is written and directed by Adam McKay. The Oscar-winner is also set to star Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, and Brendan Fraser.