Leonardo DiCaprio is all set to play everyone's favorite charlatan, Rasputin. We know what you're thinking—why would DiCaprio sign on to a fairy tale when he's trying to get that Oscar? Nope, that's Rumpelstiltskin. Moving on.
Grigori Rasputin was an advisor to the Romanovs, the last Russian royal family (you know, the one with Anastasia) before the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. He ingratiated himself with the Tsar and his family and claimed to be a mystic, healer, and even a psychic. Rasputin first started hanging out with the royal family in order to heal little Alexei's hemophilia. Over the next few years, he gained a considerable amount of influence over the Tsar and Tsarina (they believed him to be a religious prophet).
Of course, the other aristocrats didn't really appreciate Rasputin's privilege. It also didn't help that he supposedly preached a doctrine of yielding to temptation, like group sex and getting blackout drunk. He was eventually assassinated in December 1916, but it took cyanide poisoning, gunshot wounds, and drowning to kill him.
Ok, so sounds like a pretty complicated guy and problematic historical figure. But DiCaprio—despite his rotting teeth in Django Unchained—is not exactly known for being hideously ugly. Seriously, look at the real-life Rasputin:
Yikes! We realize Leo will probably have a fake beard. Then again, he likes to be authentic. And hey, maybe the beard will clinch him his long-awaited Oscar.
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[via Deadline]
