If you’re reading an article about “Wagers” this week in the confines of our home state, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you’d probably think that this article is about Sports Betting possibly becoming legal. Well, we hate to disappoint you on that front (this article is actually about a movie you goofs), but we hope to delight you on another: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are reuniting for another film — their seventh time working together over the last two decades, and yes, you are not reading that wrong, as Gangs of New York came out 20 years ago. Jesus. Anyhow, the film’s entitled The Wager, and it’s based on a forthcoming book by David Grann, who wrote Killers of the Flower Moon, which is currently in post-production and is the sixth collaboration between the two. Apple’s producing, and it’s looking like they’re gonna toss a whole lotta cash at this project. It seems like Ted Lasso has finally done some good.
Here’s how THR describes the project:
“Set in the 1740s, ‘Wager’s’ story is set in motion when a patched-together boat with 30 emaciated men lands on the coast of Brazil. The men were the surviving crew of a British ship that was chasing a Spanish vessel and had crashed onto an island in South America’s Patagonia region. Their tales of surviving the seas and elements made them heroes.
However, six months later another vessel, even more beat up than the first, showed up on the coat of Chile, this one with three sailors — who accuse the passengers on the other boat of being mutineers.
As accusations and counter-accusations flew, the British Admiralty set a special trial to uncover the truth of what exactly happened on the island, exposing a story of not just a captain and crew struggling to survive one of the most extreme climates on the planet, but also battling their own human natures.”
So, it’s got aspects of The Revenant and Silence in there (perhaps The Beach as well, though we don’t even know if Leo remembers being in that one), which is probably why, aside from Grann’s involvement, this project was so attractive to the two of them. But if Apple’s greenlighting a project this huge without even seeing a single return from Flower Moon, we imagine they must be pretty proud of what’s happening in the editing suite.
Speaking of that movie (and let’s be real: we have no clue when the hell The Wager will reach screens), it’s looking like the latest Scorsese/DiCaprio joint might premiere at Cannes next year instead of the Fall Festival circuit, despite Apple hoping for an awards-season launch. It’s a bummer, but at least it’s coming out pseudo-traditionally: It will reach theaters, thanks to a deal with Paramount. We’d wager that’s a good thing.