Home Entertainment Leonardo eyes Russia's Mad Monk

Leonardo eyes Russia's Mad Monk

1 min read
3

I remember, years back, when I disliked Leonardo DiCaprio. Shortly after Titanic, his popularity was almost Bieber-esque and I just didn’t want to have a part of it. Then something happened that I never would have expected – he went on to a great career, thanks to inspired film choices and more surprising than all, actual talent.

Leonardo-DiCaprio-Rasputin

Over the years he’s proved to be one of Hollywood’s most talented, able to tackle any role, and the one he has his sights on yet has me very excited – Russia’s “Mad Monk”, Rasputin. My mind boggles at how great I think this film could be, with Leo at the helm. For those of you who have never opened a history book, here’s what Comingsoon has to say about him:

In the early years of the 20th century, Rasputin was invited by Tsar Nicholas II to serve as a medical advisor to his hemophiliac son Alexei. Rumored to have manipulated the throne behind the scenes, Rasputin’s exploits are the stuff of legend, rumored to tie into mysticism and the dark arts.

Leonardo diCaprio, portraying one of the most enigmatic, charismatic and dangerous men in recorded history? Yes, please. My only concern would be which direction the film itself would take… a more commercial Hollywood blockbuster, or a more historic take on a character that history knows little of, but doesn’t seem to be able to forget?

If you ask me, Leo’s probably just doing it for the forest orgies. Yeah, Rasputin had those.

Last Updated: June 10, 2013

3 Comments

  1. Good until, ” rumored to tie into mysticism and the dark arts” these were mostly rumors spread by the communists to further alienate popular opinion against the Tsar. Afraid this is going to be another Da Vinci Demons where history and fact flies out the windows for artistic licensing.

    I’m not with you Di Caprio, the last decade he is going for the “weird and unexpected crtics love it” movies with plots more confusing than a fathers day celebration in Brakpan and the big twist setup so early on you are able to call it 20 minutes into the movie.

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      June 10, 2013 at 11:57

      I’m going to have to disagree there. Gangs of New York, The Departed, Shutter Island, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, Body of Lies, Inception, Django Unchained, The Great Gatsby. These are all solid roles, that were were not just weird arty movies made for critics but which the general public embraced as well. And the only ones with plot twists are Shutter Island and arguably The Departed, neither of which are confusing really.

      Reply

      • Lourens Corleone

        June 10, 2013 at 14:17

        I read the Rasputin biography a few years back and hell, it can make a fantastic (and epic) film. This is a man that was stabbed so badly his intestines were hanging out…and he survived. This was in 1914. Then, he was fed enough cyanide to poison 5 men, and was completely unaffected, due to years of tuning his body to be immune to poison. He was then shot, and fell out of a building…and got up. He was shot three more times, beaten and drowned in a freezing river, then burned. According to water in his lungs, he was still alive during the river ordeal.

        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Paramount has made nearly as much money selling off films in 2020 than it did from the US box office in 2019

Out of all the major Hollywood studios, Paramount has had a very rough few years financial…