Single men of the world who are sick of seeing shocked faces on their dates when they say that they live at home -- this news bit is for you. Variety reports that Relativity Media outbid a collection of studios for a screenplay called The Low Dweller, by a new screenwriter, Brad Ingelsby. The 27-year-old is a grad from AFI who lives with his parents in Pennsylvania and works for his father's insurance business. Or, at least, he did. I imagine he quit once his script was picked up for $650,000 against $1.1 million.

That's not all! This seems to be such a hot script that there are already plans for Ridley Scott to direct and Leonardo DiCaprio to star -- possibly really soon. The film is said to need a brief 35-day shoot, so there is a chance that Ridley and Leo can squeeze it in somewhere.

The story focuses on a man named Slim (who DiCaprio would play). After serving a number of years in prison for murder, his lone goal upon release: to fulfill a promise and marry his "long-suffering girlfriend." However, he finds out that his brother has been murdered in some sort of gambling kerfuffle and feels that he must avenge his brother's death. The script is being compared to No Country for Old Men, so I'm betting you can expect something somber and gritty, with an underlying layer of humor.

He's been fighting his young look for years, but it looks like Leonardo DiCaprio has finally gotten to a place where he looks older and more experienced. Perhaps that's due to the furrowed brow he's sporting in the picture above. The image is from his current film, Ridley Scott's Body of Lies, and it leads me to wonder if he practiced that furrowed look to age him, and how long it will be before he and Josh Brolin play brothers. (See the bearded resemblance?)

The film is based on David Ignatius' novel about a CIA agent sent to Amman to collaborate with Jordan's special intelligence and track down an Al Qaeda bad guy who is scheming an attack on America. DiCaprio plays the agent, Russell Crowe plays his boss, and Carice van Houten plays his ex-wife. No release date has been set for the film, but it shouldn't take too long to hit screens.

[via Empire Online]

After a hunt with the likes of Warner Brothers, Universal and Working Title, Scott Rudin has nabbed the screen rights to I, Claudius, the historical novel by Robert Graves. According to Variety, this deal has been set for a whopping $2 million. See, the BBC had the rights years ago, and had turned the work into a large, 13-part miniseries back in the seventies. When the rights lapsed, Hollywood began salivating. Rudin has come out the big victor, to produce with Alison Owen (they last teamed up for The Other Boleyn Girl).

Nothing else has been set, but word has it that Disney will probably be the studio for the feature, and Leonardo DiCaprio and screenwriter William Monahan will likely sign on. The novel is about Roman Emperor Claudius, written as his secret memoir. It follows the assassination of Julius Caesar, through to Caligula's -- which should make for a good plate of politics and sauciness (although probably not as shocking as Caligula's infamous trip to starring territory). Will they go the British-as-Romans route? Or Americans as Romans? There's lots of ways this could play out, although I'm positive that with the money that's sure to be invested, it will be pretty epic no matter who ends up on the roster. Nevertheless, who would you cast?

Did you ever watch Growing Pains, and do you remember when cute little Leo was on there with his cherubic face and way-too-cute bad boy image? Playing Arnie Grape couldn't wipe away his young hottie persona, and stints in The Basketball Diaries and Romeo + Juliet solidified it. Apparently he was trying to get away from being seen as cute pre-Titanic, and his role in the film brought him back to being objectified by adoring women. Brought him back? I don't think there was ever a time in Leonardo DiCaprio's earlier days when he wasn't seen as a cute young actor.

Either I'm wrong, or DiCaprio's desire to not be cute has clouded his memory. MSNBC has reported that Leo told Newsweek that the shipwreck movie once again made him "another piece of cute meat." The young actor was looking to get away from his image and is quoted as saying: "It was pretty disheartening to be objectified like that. I wanted to stop acting for a little bit." So Leo is unhappy with being objectified, and can now join the legions of actresses who feel like that on a daily basis. And he's only complaining for being called cute!

I can't imagine what he'd do if he found himself in a situation like that of Natalie Portman, whose nudity in Closer was finally cut after the kerfuffle and frenzy of those wanting to see the young girl from the Professional in her birthday suit glory. Instead of giving up acting or feeling discouraged, perhaps DiCaprio can use these feelings as motivation to try to change things. And it probably wouldn't hurt if he refrained from sexy, posed pictures like the one to the right. ...