Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, is reportedly in talks with Paramount Pictures to produce a film set in the Jim Crow south. The movie would tell the story of "two young black brothers in the racially segregated southern U.S. who were kidnapped and displayed as circus freaks," The Guardian reported Wednesday, and is based on a book of the same premise.
DiCaprio is reportedly trying to negotiate a starring role in the film as well.
The plot is based on a true story, well known among the townspeople of Roanoake, Virginia, which journalist Beth Macy turned into a book called Truevine (and which was released this week). In it, the two boys are kidnapped from their family in the late 19th century and forced to appear in carnivals as as sheep-headed cannibals" or "ambassadors from Mars."
"When I first sort of sauntered in there [to talk to a living relative of the men] and said, 'surely you're gonna let me write a story and interview your uncle—'cause Willie was still alive, he was over 100 then," Macy told NPR this week. "And she pointed to a sign on the wall and it said 'Sit Down and Shut Up.' And she kind of meant it."
"Later, showman bragged about buying them from one carnival and then selling them to another like they were chattel. So there was no question they were exploited, there's no question that they worked for many years without pay," Macy added.
