Leonardo DiCaprio in talks to play former US President Woodrow Wilson in new biopic

(Getty Images)

Leonardo DiCaprio is in talks to play Woodrow Wilson in a new biopic of the 28th President of the United States.

The Great Gatsby star’s production company, Appian Way, will produce the film, which is based on an acclaimed biography of the divisive Democrat leader by A. Scott Berg.

Warner Bros is thought to be interested in picking up the rights to the project, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film could cover everything from America’s entry into the First World War to the creation of the Federal Reserve, as well as the former president’s love of golf. Berg’s biography depicts Wilson as a charismatic, progressive figure, neglecting a poor record on civil liberties that has rendered the President a somewhat controversial figure among modern historians.

But DiCaprio may need to plunder these grey areas if he wants to reverse his run of misfortune at the Academy Awards.

Daniel Day Lewis’s portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, which showed the incredible strain the President placed on his family, earned him his third Best Actor Oscar this year.

The Steven Spielberg film also showed that presidential biopics can be a hot ticket at the box office. It earned a total of $275m worldwide, $40m more than Best Picture winner Argo.

The Woodrow Wilson film will represent DiCaprio’s return to acting following the “long, long break” he took following the filming of Martin Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street, The Great Gatsby and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.

US President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 (Getty Images/Hulton Archive)