Leo’s In Dreamland

Leonardo DiCaprio has just acquired the film rights to Dreamland, Kevin Baker's recently published historical novel about a young immigrant's adventures in turn-of-the-century New York. Leo himself has taken a keen interest in playing the book's hero, Kid Twist, a stowaway on a ship carrying Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung to the America. The sprawling narrative combines fictional characters with historical figures and situations. Kid Twist travels take him from Coney Island to the Lower East Side and include encounters with midgets, gangsters and labour activists among others. Baker's novel was published in March to excellent reviews It currently ranks No. 323 on Amazon.com's bestseller list. There is, of course, no word on how much DiCaprio's Birken Productions paid, or if there yet exists a timetable for filming.