Paramount is getting closer to production with their Evel Knievel biopic this summer, with two Oscar-winning actors circling major roles.
Leonardo DiCaprio, 50, and Adrien Brody, 51, who broke a record for the longest Oscar speech in history after winning Best Actor for The Brutalist, are up for the project, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
DiCaprio is currently in talks to play the тιтle character daredevil, who stunned audiences in the 1970s with wild motorcycle jumps.
Brody is eyeing the role of Shelly Saltman, the daredevil’s one-time promoter who was attacked by Knievel with an aluminum bat in September 1977.
Negotiations for DiCaprio have been ongoing for months, since late 2024, though while that process continues, the producers and director Damien Chazelle have been eyeing other roles.
There is no formal offer for the Saltman role out to Brody yet, though the two-time Oscar winner has met with Chazelle about the role.
DiCaprio is currently in talks to play the тιтle character daredevil, who stunned audiences in the 1970s with wild motorcycle jumps.
Brody is eyeing the role of Shelly Saltman, the daredevil’s one-time promoter who was attacked by Knievel with an aluminum bat in September 1977
Paramount is getting closer to production with their Evel Knievel biopic this summer, with two Oscar-winning actors circling major roles
If a deal does close with DiCaprio in the near future, production could get under way as early as this summer.
The actor would also reunite with a rather familiar screenwriter – William Monahan – who wrote 2006’s The Departed and 2008’s Body of Lies.
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Evel Knievel started doing daredevil motorcycle stunts in the late 1960s, first achieving fame by an appearance on The Joey Bishop Show in 1968.
One of his first famous stunts was jumping the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, which resulted in a horrific crash and multiple broken bones.
He also jumped the Snake River Canyon, double-decker busses at London’s Wembley Stadium and a tank full of live sharks, which inspired the Happy Days episode that in turn inspired the phrase, ‘jump the shark,’ referring to a creative work that has perhaps devolved from its original premise.
During perhaps the height of his fame in 1977, promoter Shelly Saltman published the book Evel Knievel On Tour, which the daredevil claimed included details that misled readers and damaged his reputation.
Knievel and a friend visited Saltman’s office on the 20th Century Fox lot, with the friend holding Saltman down as Knievel ᴀssaulted him with an aluminum baseball bat, at one point Knievel was screaming, ‘I’m going to kill you!’
While Saltman was not killed, his arm and wrist was shattered in numerous places while trying to block Knievel’s blows with the bat.
Evel Knievel started doing daredevil motorcycle stunts in the late 1960s, first achieving fame by an appearance on The Joey Bishop Show in 1968.
One of his first famous stunts was jumping the fountains at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, which resulted in a horrific crash and multiple broken bones
Knievel was convicted for the ᴀssault, but spent just six months on work furlough as his punishment.
Knievel was convicted for the ᴀssault, but spent just six months on work furlough as his punishment.
Saltman also brought forth a civil trial, where Saltman was award $12.75 million in damages, though Knievel declared bankruptcy and none of the award was paid.
Knievel lost most of his sponsors and performed quite sparingly in the intervening years, with his final tour performance in 1981 with his son Robbie.
After Knievel’s death in 2007, Saltman tried suing the estate for the unpaid award, though it remained uncollected leading up to Saltman’s death in 2019 at 87.
