Proving that the retro-‘60s fad still has some legs, assassinating John F. Kennedy is suddenly all the rage again, as more and more of today’s filmmakers get hip to the far-out sound of a nation’s innocence dying. As with so many horrible moments in history, Tom Hanks was right there with Parkland, followed soon after by J.J. Abrams saying he might be interested in taking Stephen King’s 11/22/63 from Jonathan Demme, and then came announcement of David Mamet’s Blackbird, a Cate Blanchett-starring thriller about a modern-day woman who begins to suspect her grandfather of being part of the conspiracy that definitely didn’t happen, crazypants. Now comes word from Showbiz411 that David O. Russell is considering directing Leonardo DiCaprio in Legacy Of Secrecy, based on Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann’s book on the role the Mafia may have played not only in the murder of JFK, but also that of his brother Robert and Martin Luther King Jr.
The film’s been languishing on DiCaprio’s production list for several years; indeed, the book’s website proudly trumpets it as a Warner Bros. release set for 2013, in conjunction with all the JFK Assassination 50th Anniversary celebrations everyone has planned. But now the son of FBI informant Jack Van Laningham, the man whom Marcello allegedly confessed to, says production really is ramping up with Russell writing and directing, DiCaprio playing Van Laningham, and Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook star Robert De Niro on board as Marcello. Of course, nothing about this is official yet—even more so, given that Russell already has other projects lined up and is just getting over the habit of backing out on things. But consider this an early tip to get down with this whole “assassinating JFK” vibe, lest you wind up looking like a total square.