Leonardo DiCaprio Being Eyed to Star in Paul Thomas Anderson's Next Film Which is Also Courting Denzel Washington and Tiffany Haddish

by Darian Scalamoni

    There aren't many directors who can be addressed by just three letters, however, PTA or Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood) is one of them. He's always attracted a multitude of stars to work with for his projects: Daniel Day-Lewis, Bradley Cooper, Burt Reynolds, Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Joaquin Phoenix among so many others. However, the names that Anderson is courting for his latest project would make for his starriest cast yet.

    Rumors began swirling back in October from World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy that Anderson could be working on a Harlem Renaissance Jazz-Age Film that would take place in the 1940's. It appears now that some names are being thrown around for just who could star potentially in the film with some Oscar-winners in tow. According to Jeff Sneider via The Hot Mic podcast and his Twitter, one of the names being courted for the currently untitled film is none other than Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant, Inception). The iconic actor has been wanting to work with PTA for years after famously regretting his decision to turn down the lead role in Boogie Nights back in 1997. However, DiCaprio wound up with Titanic, so one thinks it was an apples and oranges sort of situation. Having said that, Mark Wahlberg catapulted into stardom with his role as aspiring porn star Dirk Diggler in the movie and DiCaprio has aspired to star in a Paul Thomas Anderson film ever since.

    Additionally, Denzel Washington (Training Day, Fences) was rumored by World of Reel to have also been sought after for a starring role as he's been meeting with PTA for months all across Los Angeles. Washington would be the ultimate get to lead a potential black-centric Harlem Renaissance project. The aforementioned Jeff Sneider also had heard rumblings that the movie might have a "crime element" having thought that maybe DiCaprio could be playing perhaps a police officer or gangster, both as which he has experience with across his breadth of movie roles throughout the years. Could you imagine Denzel and Leo facing off on the big screen?

    Back in 2018, Anderson had been discussing a film role with Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip) which she had described to Indiewire: "You know how they got Harlem Nights? I was like, 'What if we did South Central Nights?' Like what South Central used to be? How L.A. was this place where you could come and be free, but it was still very segregated, and how that worked in the relationships. "These comments from Haddish align with the potential vision that PTA could be lining up to cast her in alongside Washington and DiCaprio. Anderson was so impressed with Haddish's role in Girls Trip that he called her to acknowledge how great she was in the film. He has been known to do this with other actors, having done something similar when making Punch-Drunk Love for Adam Sandler. He described this further most recently on Josh Horowitz's podcast, Happy Sad Confused.

    Take all of this with a grain of salt for now, however, the multiple reports all seem to add up and make sense. Sometimes where there is smoke, there is often fire. This would be a massive hit to see Denzel Washington and Leonardo DiCaprio square off for a director as esteemed as Anderson. I for one, hope this news comes to fruition.