After earning his second Best Actor Oscar win for The Brutalist, Adrien Brody can pick whatever he wants to do next. So what might that be? Well, it could be joining Damien Chazelle and Leonardo DiCaprio for their upcoming Evel Knievel biopic.
We first learned about the project early last year, when it was set up at Paramount. DiCaprio still needs to iron out a deal with the studio, but until that’s done Chazelle is looking to fill out the rest of the cast. Nothing is going to move ahead until DiCaprio’s deal is done.
As for Brody, he’s being eyed to play a particular person in the stuntman Knievel’s life. He’s play Shelly Saltman, a prominent promoter and former head of Fox Sports. Saltman promoted one of Knievel’s rocket-cycle canyon jumps, and eventually wrote a book about it that Knievel got upset about. In 1977, Knievel and one of his buddies found Saltman on the 20th Century Fox lot, where the stuntman beat him with a metal bat. Saltman was left unconscious with multiple shattered bones. Knievel was convicted of the assault and lost a civil suit for $12M, none of which he paid.
So it sounds like a pretty flashy supporting role for Brody, just as it should be for DiCaprio. Brody picks and chooses his roles carefully, so he doesn’t have anything major lined up. His schedule should be free and clear to take this one on with Chazelle. And if that happens, look for filming to begin this summer. [THR]
