Leonardo DiCaprio has come on board to produce and possibly star in a movie version of Jo Nesbo’s upcoming thriller “Blood on the Snow.”
Warner Bros. is in negotiations for the film rights to the novel, which will be set up at DiCaprio’s Warner-based Appian Way banner for him to produce along with Appian Way partner Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Kevin McCormick via his Warner-based Langley Park shingle.
The book, penned under Nesbo’s pseudonym Tom Johansson, centers on a hit man who falls in love with his boss’s wife after being assigned to assassinate her.
Nesbo will publish “Blood on the Snow” in the spring and the sequel “More Blood On The Water” in the spring of 2015.
“Blood on the Snow” is the second Nesbo adaptation that’s been set at Warner Bros. and Langley Park, which came on last year to Nesbo’s “The Son.”
The Norwegian author is best known for his series of crime novels centered on detective Harry Hole, most notably “The Snowman.” Universal and Working Title have been developing a feature version of that title for the past two years with Martin Scorsese in talks to come on board at one point.
The deal for “Blood on the Snow” is the second book rights acquisition by Warner Bros. for DiCaprio in the last five weeks. The studio snagged feature rights in mid-September to A. Scott Berg’s “Wilson” biography and set it up with Appian Way banner as a potential starring vehicle for the “Great Gatsby” actor.
Producers on “Wilson” are DiCaprio, Davisson Killoran and Berg. No director is attached yet as producers plan to seek a writer first.
DiCaprio will be seen next in Paramount’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which he also produced, as Jordan Belfort. Scorsese directed “Wolf.”
News of the “Blood on the Snow” deal was first reported by the Deadline.com site.
