From Bond to Ludlum! - Forster to direct THE CHANCELLOR MANUSCRIPT!

Pitch for you; Marc Forster, director of the radically kick-ass James Bond movie Quantum of Solace - helming a Robert Ludlum adaptation that could be a cousin of the Syndey Pollack thriller Three Days of the Condor - with Leonardo DiCaprio producing, and potentially attached as the lead. Yup, I'm sold on that! The movie is based on Ludlum's 1977 novel The Chancellor Manuscript which has the "what if" scenario revolving around the idea that the head of Federal Bureau of Investigation J. Edgar Hoover was actually assassinated in 1972 rather than dying of natural causes, leaving behind a set of secret files that proves he was bumped off because he knew too much about the wrong kind of people.

Story centers on Peter Chancellor, who turns in a novel about D.C. power brokers who are blackmailed into altering U.S. policies. When some operatives get hold of the manuscript, they think he has uncovered their actual scheme and try to hunt the author down.

Varietysay Peter O'Brien whose screenplay Unlocked made the 2008 Black List, has been tapped to write the screenplay. Previous drafts came from Michael Seitzman (North Country) and Alessandro Camon (The Messenger). Paramount bought the rights to the novel for a substantial $4 million back in 2005 as a potential starring vehicle for DiCaprio but as Leo's been rather busy as one of the world's most sought after film stars - the studio haven't really been all that active in developing it recently. But... they have a director now, which is a good sign that this one might go before the camera's before the year is out. DiCaprio really needs to decide whether he wants to star in this one, otherwise it's time to move on and let Forster make it with someone else. The Chancellor Manuscript joins the recently stalled MGM thriller The Matarese Circle which has Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington starring and David Cronenberg attached as director which hit the brakes when Cruise wanted to make Knight & Day with Cameron Diaz, and Universal's The Sigma Protocol which last we heard had Joe Padhila (Elite Squad) attached to direct - as big money attempts to repeat the success of the Bourne franchise from Ludlum's other writings.