I‘ll watch anything that has Leonardo DiCaprio in it. In fact, I’ve watched every feature film in his filmography, because the guys rocks, I want to be him and get nominated for Oscars and date the most beautiful women in the world, and I still feel guilty that I hated him so much after Titanic. Plus, I respect him even more for shedding the teeny-bop image that was forced on him in its aftermath, something that has been the downfall to many actors of the years. The guy is just a great, intense actor all around and even after he’s proved to the world time and time again that he can act, I still feel much of the general public doesn’t give him to respect he deserves. I still get the occasional snicker when I say he’s one of my favorite working American actors, which boggles my mind.
I was pretty gleeful today when I read that DiCaprio was connected to a noir-ish adaptation of The Deep Blue Goodbye, a novel out of the Travis McGee mystery series by John D. MacDonald. Here’s the summation brought to you by Variety:
DiCaprio is in line to play Travis McGee, a self-described beach bum who lives aboard the 52-foot houseboat The Busted Flush, and alleviates his cash flow problems by hiring on as a ‘salvage consultant.’ He recovers property for clients, taking a hefty percentage and getting into a lot of danger and romance in sun-drenched Florida. ‘The Deep Blue Goodbye,’ the first of a 21 volume bestselling series, was originally published in 1964.
Apparently, McGee only will work when he runs out of money, he doesn’t trust the government, he won’t use credit cards, and he is wary of television. How cool is that?
With 21 books following this hardboiled Travis character, is it safe to say that they are thinking “big-budget franchise?” Which, interestingly enough, would be DiCaprio first time starring in a franchise series (although he has been connected to an adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s The Chancellor Manuscriptalso, which would undoubtedly be pushed by the studio as a franchise). Hey, all serious actors are doing it nowadays. Matt Damon has his Bourne flicks, Depp has his Pirates movies, Downey Jr. has his Iron Man (and soon Sherlock Holmes also), so why not DiCaprio? Plus, this sounds way cooler than all of those combined.
I think I’m going to have to purchase this novel and see what this McGee is all about. Has anyone out there ever read one of these 21 books?
On a side note, check out Leonardo’s IMDb page. Dude has nearly thirty upcoming movies that he is attached to. Whoa.
I have read all the books. But it was a long time ago. I thougt they were good. I am pretty sure they were all good sellers. They did make a tv movie. It was just called Travis McGee. Sam Elliot played the lead.
Here is the rest of the cast.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086473/
I don’t really picture DeCaprio as McGee. Off hand I can’t think who I would put in that roll.
From what I understand (and by understand, I mean read on the internet), the author never physically describes the character in the books though, correct? Although it seems that those that have read it picture somebody much bigger and more physically commanding than DiCaprio.