Updated March 10, 6:30 p.m. PT: Imperative Entertainment won a competitive auction for the film rights to David Grann‘s new nonfiction book “Killers of the Flower Moon” for roughly $5 million.
Previously:
Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” director J.J. Abrams and Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”) are teaming up with Paramount to make a play for David Grann‘s new nonfiction book “Killers of the Flower Moon: An American Crime and the Birth of the FBI” and are the frontrunners to land the coveted rights, multiple individuals with knowledge of the situation have told TheWrap.
In what is shaping up to be the hottest Hollywood auction of the year so far, insiders peg the DiCaprio-Abrams bid at $2 million. There are higher bids on the table, but none of the offers provides the star wattage of the DiCaprio-Abrams package — not even Sony’s offer for George Clooney to direct and Amy Pascal to produce.
Should they land the coveted book rights, DiCaprio and Abrams would produce “Killers of the Flower Moon” under their respective banners Appian Way and Bad Robot.
Set in the 1920s, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a nonfiction story about the mysterious murders of the Osage Indians tribe in Oklahoma, where oil sat rich beneath their land. The case was turned over to a brand new law enforcement agency known as the FBI, which fought against corruption to solve the case.
CAA is brokering the auction, so stay tuned.