DiCaprio teams up for film version of Netflix documentary

LOS ANGELES: Leonardo DiCaprio is teaming up on film version of the Oscar-nominated documentary ‘Virunga’ about saving the endangered mountain gorillas in Congo.

Barry Jenkins, who won an adapted screenplay Oscar for film ‘Moonlight’, will write the script for the film adaptation of the 2014 documentary directed by Orlando von Einsiedel.

The documentary ‘Virunga’ focused on the fight to protect the world’s last mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Von Einsiedel spotlighted the biodiversity of Virunga, along with the political and economic issues arising from oil exploration and armed conflict in the region.

Netflix bought the rights to the documentary in 2014. The documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and went on to win several awards, including a Peabody Award.

DiCaprio won an Academy Award for ‘The Revenant’. In addition to a prolific acting career, he also produced films ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘Richard Jewell’ and the 2016 documentary ‘The Ivory Game’ about the poaching of elephants in Africa.

Jenkins was nominated for a directing Oscar for ‘Moonlight’ and an adapted screenplay Oscar for ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’. Other details such the film cast and release are currently under wraps.