When it was announced that New Regency had bought the rights to Josh Bazell’s debut novel “Beat the Reaper,” with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way serving as a co-production entity, it looked like a no-brainer. DiCaprio had an eye to star, and the lead role was a juicy part perfect for the nimble and diverse actor. And then… nothing. While DiCaprio square-dances around his next potential project (and we all wait for “Shutter Island” to come out next year), we haven’t heard a peep about this project.
Late last week, we talked to Josh Bazell about the paperback release of “Beat the Reaper” (easily this year’s most impressive debut novel). He said that, yes, although reports were muddy, DiCaprio had been part of the acquisition because he wanted to star as the book’s protagonist, Dr. Brown, a former low-level mob assassin who, after seven years in witness protection, has emerged as a doctor in a New York City hospital. After a goon from the old days shows up in his emergency room, it’s a race against time to conceal his past and save his future, punctuated by flashbacks to Brown’s mob life, his mentorship by a very-British detective-sounding Dr. Marmoset, and how he turned his life around. Really, this thing is whip-cracking entertainment that also manages to be high art: a heady mixture of medical drama, mob thriller, “M*A*S*H”-style satire, and at times almost Cronenbergian body horror.
Anyway, Bazell said that he would be “thrilled” if DiCaprio took the role (soon to be iconic — there’s another Dr. Brown novel coming in the not-too-distant future), but, sadly, he said “I really don’t know anything. It’s Hollywood, you know?”
Yes, we do. — Drew Taylor
