Damien Chazelle Reportedly Directing ‘Evel Knievel’ Film; Leonardo DiCaprio In Talks To Star
After years of waiting due to the flop of his major Hollywood epic ‘Babylon’, director Damien Chazelle finally has a new film in development.
Reports are now trickling out that Damien Chazelle is directing an Evel Knievel biopic. Damien Chazelle is one of the most celebrated filmmakers of his generation, known for crafting visually stunning and emotionally resonant films that often revolve around ambitious, obsessive characters. His distinct style blends masterful technical precision with an emotionally charged narrative core, making his work both cinematic and deeply human.
Chazelle’s filmography showcases his versatility and passion for music, ambition, and human connection. He first garnered attention with Whiplash (2014), a taut psychological drama about the grueling relationship between an ambitious jazz drummer and his merciless instructor. The film was a critical and commercial success, earning three Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for J.K. Simmons. Chazelle’s direction was praised for its intensity, sharp editing, and raw emotional stakes.
Then, La La Land (2016) catapulted him to global fame. A modern-day musical celebrating the joys and heartbreaks of chasing one’s dreams, it showcased Chazelle’s love for jazz, bold colors, and intricate camera movements. The film won six Academy Awards, including Best Director, making Chazelle the youngest director in Oscar history to receive the honor at age 32. It also won Best Actress for Emma Stone and was briefly (and infamously) announced as Best Picture before Moonlight was revealed as the true winner.
In First Man (2018), Chazelle shifted gears to tell the intimate and introspective story of Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 mission. The film, starring Ryan Gosling, combined Chazelle’s meticulous attention to detail with a more subdued and contemplative tone, emphasising the emotional cost of ambition alongside the grandeur of space exploration. It earned critical acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Chazelle’s latest film, Babylon (2022), was a sprawling, audacious tale of Hollywood’s wild early days, examining the excess, chaos, and passion that defined the industry’s transition to sound. While polarizing for its unflinching approach to decadence and failure, the film showcased Chazelle’s fearless ambition, technical brilliance, and thematic fascination with artistic obsession.
And now, we have details on his next.
What Is Chazelle’s Next Film?
As first reported by DanielRPK, Chazelle’s next film will bring him back to his style and continue the tradition he has established – making movies about hollywood and stardom; the people that chase it and the consequences that they face. In this case, a very famous stunt performer.
Chazelle is reportedly making an Evel Knievel biopic for Paramount, the studio that also financed and supported him with Babylon, so they clearly still believe in his vision despite the financial failings of the movie.
William Monahan (The Departed, Kingdom of Heaven) is set to write the script and none other than Leonardo DiCaprio is in talks to star in the lead role. Whilst no plot details are known yet, since it is a biopic it will be based closely on Knievel’s life, so it likely will follow the main events of his life.
Evel Knievel, born in Butte, Montana, was an American stunt performer as well as a daredevil entertainer. He had a legendary career, being inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999 for his variety of insane bike stunts, with one of the most famous being his more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps.
This is amazing news considering Chazelle being stuck in director’s jail after Babylon and now that he is free, we can’t wait to see what he does next.
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