Leonardo DiCaprio to star in "The Chancellor Manuscript"

Final negotiations are underway in Paramount Pictures' bid to acquire the rights to make a movie based on the Robert Ludlum novel, "The Chancellor Manuscript."

If Paramount is successful, the updated version of "The Chancellor Manuscript" will unite Red Wagon Entertainment and Appian Way production companies to produce the film, with Leonardo DiCaprio eyed to star in the big screen adaptation of Ludlum's political thriller.

The film version of "The Chancellor Manuscript" was updated by screenwriter Michael Seitzman who fell in love with the Ludlum story when he was a kid. The story follows a novelist, Peter Chancellor, who stumbles onto a blackmail scheme while writing a novel that inadvertently parallels real events.

Leonardo DiCaprio is currently at work on "The Departed" with director Martin Scorsese.

SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter