DiCaprio in The Chancellor Manuscript

Paramount Pictures has obtained the rights to produce a movie based on the book by Robert Ludlum, The Chancellor Manuscript, and have signed Leonardo DiCaprio to play the lead role. The $4 million purchase is the largest book-to-movie deal this year, and in addition to the 4 million, the studio is paying $1 million to Michael Seitzman to write the screenplay. DiCaprio will play Peter Chancellor, a writer who publishes a book about a conspiracy among anonymous intelligence agents who are blackmailing President Washington and insisting on changing national policies. When the novel falls into the hands of real agents with a similar agenda, they think he knows their plan, and decide to eliminate him. Seitzman also wrote the screenplay for the film The Sparrow, starring Brad Pitt. [Photo:Lori Conn]