Star lined up to play computer-science pioneer Alan Turing.
Leonardo DiCaprio is reportedly “chasing” the lead role in Warner Bros’ recently acquired spec script ‘The Imitation Game.’
Penned by Graham Moore, the project is the life story of the British mathematician and scientist Alan Turing, or as Deadline describes him “mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, computer scientist, criminally prosecuted homosexual, and tortured soul.”
Turing was a key player in the breaking of the German U-boat Enigma cipher in World War II ensuring Allied-American control of the Atlantic, and is credited as the father of the computer revolution and artificial intelligence.
He was also an innocent and unpretentious gay man trying to live in a society that criminalized him. In 1952 he revealed his homosexuality and was forced to participate in a humiliating treatment program, and was ever after regarded as a security risk. In 1954 Turing ended his tormented life by eating an apple laced with cyanide.
Who could tackle such a project? Well, apparently the project has gained the interest of Ron Howard. Back in 2001, the director won an Oscar for ‘A Beautiful Mind,’ his biopic of schizophrenic mathematician John Forbes Nash.
The 2001 thriller ‘Enigma,’ starring Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet, was loosely based on Turing’s achievements at Bletchley Park, where work on the Enigma cipher was performed.