Leonardo DiCaprio & Sean Penn Wanted for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Actors eyed to take the lead in revenge thriller.

Deadline reports that Leonardo DiCaprio is being courted to take the lead role in the Alejandro González Iñárritu-directed revenge thriller ‘The Revenant.’

If a deal can be made, DiCaprio would be playing Hugh Glass, a frontiersman and fur trapper who is so badly mauled by a bear that he’s unable to be transported back from the wilderness because of the impossible terrain. The captain of his ship hires two mercenaries to stay behind. Expecting him to die, they rob and abandon him instead, leaving him helpless and alone in the cold. Unfortunately for them, he recovers and is hellbent on revenge.

The site adds that Sean Penn is being sought to play one of the men who leaves Glass to die. The film is an adaptation of Michael Punke’s riveting novel ‘The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge.’ If Iñárritu (‘Biutiful,’ ‘Babel’) can land both actors, filming could start shooting as early as next autumn.