Leo IS Jim Jones!

Who wants to see a movie about Jonestown?

R1 I do.

Yeah i'd watch it

Didn’t Jones have sex with female and male church members to dominate and humiliate them?

I'm surprised they haven't already made a movie about this thing a long time ago. And not just one. It's an automatic award magnet.

And the main actor has to do some weird body transformation (loose a lot of weight, gain a lot a weight, not shave for a year, gain a lot of muscles (Well I guess in this case Leo can't do much since he has been chubby for the last 20 years and Jim Jones was chubby) to show how dedicated he is to the character, the story and do the accuracy of the movie.

And drop some hints that he is doing crazy method acting on the sets (like not getting out of the character even after the cameras are off, being in character when talking to the fans on the street) and the media and fans will eat it right up. He would be getting tons of praise and awards predictions before anyone would even see a second of the movie.

Don't we have enough sociopaths in our daily lives (see congress) without doing a movie about one of the most famous ones?

R6 But stories about the good folks just don't make interesting movies.

[quote] "I'm surprised they haven't already made a movie about this thing a long time ago. And not just one. It's an automatic award magnet."

They have, at least twice. Once in 1980, which resulted in an Emmy Award win for Powers Boothe as Jones. There was another film in 2007, but I haven't seen it.

DiCaprio as Jones? No thanks.

A movie about Jonestown wouldn't spawn many sequels.

It’s almost too disturbing to make a film about. In a way it feels like a no-go zone for a prestige project. I can’t imagine someone well-regarded making a film about Sandy Hook, for example.

Powers Boothe was really phenomenal in that film, R8. His performance still haunts me to this day. RIP to an outstanding actor.

R8 I meant a huge Hollywood blockbuster type of movie.

Lindsay Lohan IS Kool-Aid drinker #36.

Leo will be great in that! Hope it gets made.

MAGA catnip. They LOOOOOOVE cults of personality

Blech, ugly story. Is Irene Cara available to return?

Even now, looking at pictures of Jim Jones makes me shiver. He was one scary-looking motherfucker.

The worst casting decision ever. Joaquin Phoenix would have been a better choice.

Jim Jones and his followers were socialists

They didn't even drank Kool-Aid

Can I play a bloated corpse, Leo? Can I? PLLLLLEEEEEASE can I?

I had no idea handsome Powers Boothe died.

It was sudden. He died in his sleep.

Make sure you show up for the awards.

R23 Did he drank Kool-Aid?

Powers Boothe did look a lot like Jim Jones.

What was the poison they put in the Koolaid?

I am curious about the lives of the victims/ cult members. I think they started with good intentions, they weren't initially malicious.

Cyanide was purchased supposedly for jewelry making. Jim Jones didn't do it alone, various people ordered the cyanide, signed for it and had it stored away.

The saddest part is that the children were made to drink it.

No one wants to see a movie about the mass murder of children.

R30, Jonestown and the Atlanta child murders are the first news stories that I paid attention to, precisely because children were among the victims and I was a child myself.

This is all just an excuse for him to gain 40 additional pounds.

Young Jim Jones

R31 does not speak for all of us!

Older without his sunglasses

Why are there no jokes about Jonestown?

Because the punchlines are too long.

Lol^^

Leo doesn't have the speaking voice for it.

I'm actually interested in seeing this.

Wasn't James Gandolfini rumored to be in the running for this before he died? How I would love to see that version.

Frances McDormand should plays Jones's mom. Zendaya can take Irene Cara's part.

I read up alot and listened to podcasts about Jonestown, always had a strange fascination with it. The story goes so much deeper and is so much creepier than people give it credit for. It would work so much better as a docu mini series than a dumb ass 2 hour movie.

Leo doesn't do tv

For if it wasn't known here already, Harvey Milk ( yes, that Harvey) wrote a letter to the Carter's telling them to ignore the rumors already circulating that Jim was a crazy, abusive piece of shit....this was in January 1978, just 10 months before the mass suicide. This was because Jim got him a shit ton of voters in the past. Lesson of the story. kudos to Milk for what he achieved but a politican will always be....a politician

Setting aside the vocal and physical differences---it's an obvious fit, almost too obvious. Charismatic but morally vacant has become Leo's metier. I wish he'd branch out more rather than limit himself to this grandstanding notion of what acting is or should be.

I object! This is cultist! Why can't they hire a true cult leader actor to play the part of a cult leader?

Jim Jones held a lot of power in San Francisco at the time and Milk knew he was not a man to cross.

I have an outline for the sequel where he escapes to San Francisco and hijinks ensue!

Jim Jones also had sex with men - will that be explored in this new movie

R4 - The TV movie did show that Jones was bisexual. A scene had him welcoming a young drug addict into the church, and he soon became fixated on the young man. There was a very intense scene with him tending to the guy through withdrawal, holding him down in bed and tenderly wiping the sweat from his body. After that, Jim made the guy his right-hand man.

Later, the guy left the church because his girlfriend sensed that Jones was too "friendly" toward the guy, and Jones tracked them down to an apartment. After sweet talking the guy to come back, he kissed him in front of the guys girlfriend, who stood there crying, realizing that she was losing her partner. Of course because this was a TV movie made in 1980's they cut the scene right before their lips met, but it was still a crazy scene for the day.

Thank you, r45. I'm starting to give up hope for one more teaming of Leo and Kate, but this time a smart romantic comedy. I want to see the charming deftness with light comedy he showed in Titanic.

Ironically, Milk and Moscone were killed just 9 days after Jonestown.

R50, I've seen that on youtube. Powers Boothe played JJ. He was great. The ending is so fucking creepy.

"Transmissions from Jonestown" is an excellent podcast series that goes into great detail of everything pre/during/post the tragedy. Highly recommend it if you're interested in the subject.3

CNN did a great documentary just a few years ago.

I'm not the biggest Josh Brolin fan, but he would be much better than DiCaprio.

Josh Brolin would actually be a great choice.

That CNN documentary talked about his current Rep Jackie Speir was there to check on the well-being of the people from CA and ended up shot and almost dying.

R54 Absolutely and he would have kind of a weird connection to it since he played Milk's murderer. Think he might be a bit too old though.

It wasn't Kool-Aid. It was some other copy colored drink.

Jackie Speir's story is unbelievable. That woman was made of steel.*.

Flavor-Aid which they carried at Aldi when I was a kid.

It was the cheaper version of Kool Aid. My mom would jump back and forth between brands depending on funds or specials

Something that always surprised me about Jonestown was how many African-Americans were involved and ended up dying there. Black people don't seem like they are easily led (or brainwashed in this case), especially by an insane white man.

I'd be interested in a movie about Jonestown but I've never been interested in a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and never will be.

R62 actually the whole tragedy is a good way to see how "well meaning" people can take advantage and manipulate people in very bad positions in society.69

The People's Temple welcomed those who were outcast from society. Many blacks and gays joined to feel part of a community.

That's part of these types of why some of these stories are so interesting. There are people from all walks of life, all positions, backgrounds, etc. It's a right place/right time sort of thing, and I assume a lot of them do find friendship and camaraderie. It's a pretty fascinating subject. Not just official cults, but people who get caught up in a way of thinking that is ultimately destructive. Hell, even staying alone, and fearing others can become its own destructive mindset.

One of the survivors was a gay man who left that day with Leo Ryan. He unfortunately left his son behind who was killed.

why does DL trash him? I like him. Good actor--makes interesting choices.

Tbh by it's last few years, Jonestown was barely a cult and more of a political comune.

The best part of the story is when they had a politician visit and said they would allow anyone to leave that wanted to. But then they killed them all when they actually tried to leave. however i believe there were some survivors of the final massacre.

It's doubtful that Jim Jones gave the orders to kill those who were leaving. In the death tape it's clear he's high as fuck and has no clue what's happened.

R70 Yeah and it's all on film. You can just feel the absolute heavy, shitty vibes in those videos.

Jones had a pet chimp named Mr Muggs, who was shot before the Kool Aid was distributed.

Before he became a minister Jim sold monkeys through ads in the backs of magazines.

If we see Leo as Jim shoot Mr Muggs he can never be redeemed.

There are still thousands of people, including myself, from the Bay Area who met Jim Jones. My lover's mom, a member of the Church of Christ in Oakland knew dozens of his victims. Jim Jones was evil, I thought Satan himself lived in him. He hit on me and tried to rope me into his cult. He gave me the creeps. I know this will sound strange but he and Donald Trump had much in common.

I think Leo is a good choice for this. If I were doing casting in my head for this story, I don't think I would have come up with him as my choice for Jim Jones, but now that it's been mentioned I get how this could be good.

Will they shoot on-location in Guyana?

LMAO

One of the most chilling things I have ever heard was the tape of the young woman brave enough to interrupt Jones during his death speech to argue with him to please not do this to the children. She was so brave and I think they forced her to drink. While Jones may have been high he was very eloquent and coherent.

He knew exactly what he was doing. Doesn't matter if he was high or not. He knew he'd dug himself in deep, and saw no way out but to take himself and everyone around him out as martyrs. He took his followers on for a fucked up ride.

I would love to see it! It was absolutely shocking back in the day to see aerial footage of those 900 bodies. And then to hear the recording. Jim Jones was pure evil. And it was such a sad and awful event.

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned repeat it.” - Jim Jones. Such a creepy sign hanging above all of those poor, unfortunate souls (many children).

R62 My understanding was that Jones was promising minority members the idea of a non racial society, where they would be judged only by their character. To them it probably seemed like a better deal than the chaotic mess back at home. For all the upheaval of the era it seemed a slightly more optimistic time, many people really threw themselves into various social movements. I think for most of the Jonestown members it was a frog in the water type of situation, where things gradually grew more sinister until it was too late to leave.

Leo is going to win multiple Oscars in the next few years. The movies he has lined up right now is beyond impressive. I predict that he'll be the male actor with the most Oscar wins before the decade is over.

He's probably the last great Hollywood star we'll ever see.

I give Leo credit for not going the superhero/franchise route. God knows he could've easily done it and made a bloody fortune but he's stayed away from all of that.

R49 did he have sex with Harvey Milk?

R49 Never been confirmed, I don't think . I suppose it's possible but I think by then Milk was monogamous and with a partner.

I wonder if Leo will squint, shouting through clenched teeth and sticking his chin out, all while making his face red, spitting and jabbing his finger menacingly at someone.

You know— for a change.

I hate the idea. Leo is a good actor but every time I see him in something, I always feel like I am watching Leo portray X character which is not so bad when it comes to fictional characters but terrible when portraying a historic/real life one.

R88 Have you seen footage of Jim Jones?

It will seem like it's going to cut off after pt 1, but it does keep going.

Leo would be incredible as the next James Bond, but y'all aren't ready for that conversation.

I think the worse thing I found out about Jonestown was that one of Jim's "secretaries" (who were always white, young pretty, despite Jim always going on about racial equality) who was out of town and not in Jonestown heard the news and killed herself and her 2 kids by his orders. And it wasn't with Kool-aid either.

In the early evening of November 18, at the Temple's headquarters in Georgetown, Temple member Sharon Amos received a radio communication from Jonestown instructing the members at the headquarters to take revenge on the Temple's enemies and then commit revolutionary suicide. Later, after police arrived at the headquarters, Sharon escorted her children, Liane (21), Christa (11), and Martin (10), into a bathroom. Wielding a kitchen knife, Sharon first killed Christa, and then Martin. Then Liane assisted Sharon in killing herself with the knife, after which Liane killed herself with the knife.

Stephan, Tim and Jim Jr. eventually found them dead after they arrived at the Temple headquarters in their efforts to return to Jonestown to stop the suicide.

The TV mini-series with Powers Booth did include scenes with him having sex with men. It was hot too.

[quote]Joaquin Phoenix would have been a better choice.

Absolutely. Little acting required!

R94, there was alot of insinuations and things that were implied but tv was so innocent then they even cut away from Jim and the guy kissing.

I hope this is good. This whole situation has always fascinated me.

Leo DiCaprio does play maniacal well...such as in "The Wolves Of Wall Street". I can see him in this role.

Adam Driver would be a better choice imo8

Leo doesn’t do TV R43?

I would totally watch this.

Leo doesn't do tv r100. That obviously means now, as a major movie star. Not when he was starting out as a kid. God, some of you are dense.

Only interesting if TPTB are willing to go out on a limb and discuss Jones' CIA ties including using People's Temple Members to fight as mercenaries in Africa. Also wild tales of using coffins to transport drugs to SF like what was supposedly done in Viet Nam.

This is why I hate the idea of a 2 hour o3r less movie, There are so many crazy things to get into about Jones. No way they will be able to go into everything. This should be a docuseries or miniseries on Netflix.3

Who’s going to play Willie Brown or Jerry Brown? Will Jane Fonda make a cameo?

I think they should go with someone English.

[quote]positions in society.69

Pics please.

A wicked con artist and flawed, gullible sheep who took the lives of innocent children.

It will probably look like his Django character. He’s not an interesting choice.

This film will be straight washed. Leo will never play gay.

R109, Leo has played gay already -- he played teen poet Arthur Rimbaud in the movie "Total Eclipse", where you check out him lip-locking with David Thewlis.

There was also a campy, low-budget exploitation version made around the time of the Power Boothe movie: [italic]Guyana: Cult of the Damned[/italic] (a.k.a. [italic]Guyana: Crime of the Century[/italic]), starring Stuart Whitman as "Jim Johnson." (The main characters' names were changed because the writer took liberties with the story.)

^ *Powers* Boothe

Wow - Joseph Cotton had a cameo in that Cult of the Damned movie. That's almost Joan Crawford Trog-level career desperation.

R113 Well, Cotton had already appeared in Doomsday Voyage, Syndicate Sadist and Lady Frankenstein by this time so Cult of the Damned was a step up.

Who plays Jackie Speier?

That's Jim Jones son in the clip at R90? He is hot!

I hope fucking Ryan Murphy isn’t in any way involved!

I agree Josh Brolin would be a better choice, he definitely has a harder edge about him than Leo, and physically he is a closer match. Joaquin could do it but as the poster above said, it probably hits to close to home.

Joaquin has a weirdly hypnotic charisma but it's different from Jim Jones. I always thought Joaq would play a great Rasputin.

I still say Adam Driver would be better. Josh would be best but he's too old.

I'm guessing Matt Dillon is too old for the part?

This is the excellent CNN special "Escape From Jonestown." It is riveting to hear the stories of the survivors.

November 18 is the 43rd anniversary.

[quote]The saddest part is that the children were made to drink it.

Sad is such a strong word.

R67 Vernon Gosey. He was an openly gay HIV positive police officer in Maui . Sadly died early this year in a bypass surgery.

Gosney was instrumental in gaining an early release for Larry Layton, the man who shot him .

I won't see it. A movie about a sick fuck is not my idea of a good time.

We just went through 4 years of having as President a sick fuck who tried to tell everyone to kill themselves. So I could see it reimagined as "Trumptown" with all the MAGA followers dying of bleach poisoning.

Modern-day DiCaprio is sadly devoid of charisma

He gives me depression.

Leo doesn't physically resemble Jim Jones but could probably do a decent job, anyway.

Agree that Joaquin Phoenix is a good idea.

Jared Leto also comes to mind, something about the eyes.

The church / Guyana was supposed to be a post-racist society. However, turns out that all the people in power were white (in the Jim Jones organization).

a thread about the cast of the mini-series.

Tons of DL favs including DIANA SCARWID!!!!!

It would seem Leo has a vested interest in this subject? He along with a couple of others produced an absolutely excellent 2 part BBC documentary on the subject last year. Worth checking out.

*not last year, in 2018

r132 thank you for that

R128 He had tons of charisma in The Wolf of Wall Street.

There is so much dark, dark info on the internet about People's Temple that the excellent Powers' Booth miniseries and the doc above gloss over. For example many members were former drug addicts and the chronically unemployed. There were pressured into turning over their SSI checks to Jim Jones. He also got money from SF government to absolve the City of their problem occupants.

Jim Jones moved to SF because of repeated claims of child abuse, sexual misconduct, physical and emotional abuse, and questionable financial dealings in the Midwest locations. Stories leaked are horrendous.

Many of the stronger members ran into the jungle trying to escape being forced at gunpoint to drink the poison. They were shot down.

Some escaped to reveal what had happened to them also revealing that most were too weak to run and to save themselves. Crop failures in the harsh Guyana jungle meant massive malnutrition among people struggling to cope with the challenging and unfamiliar jungle climate. Jim Jones would never have admitted to the massive failure.

Jim Jones' son was playing basketball at another location with his teammates the day of the tragedy.

I wish Leo had done The Devil in the White City instead.

Leo has the best instincts in Hollywood when it comes to picking roles. He doesn't miss. Of course, it doesn't hurt when you're Martin Scorcese's favorite actor.

Pity how he's never been able to find a good wife.

From DeNiro to DiCaprio was a real nosedive for Scorsese.

R140, Are you pressed that Scorcese doesn't favor Timothee?

R50 that was hot in his day Brad Dourif. I don't blame ole Jimmy for that one!

And the girlfriend was Diana Scarwid, Christina Crawford.

Scarwid is actually very good in the mini-series. I can see why she got plum film roles after it. (and Christina Crawford was probably thought of as a really good role at the time. Who knew the reception it would get.)

R137, I bet it came down to money: it's a lot cheaper to reproduce the 1970s than it is the 1890s, particularly when the latter requires recreations of the titular White City at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

My suggestion: use the massive set on more than one film - find other properties that could utilize the set: an elaborate remake of Show Boat? Or biographies of other people famously associated with the Exposition?

Save your money. There is no way Leo could improve on Powers' performance.

[quote] Leo has the best instincts in Hollywood when it comes to picking roles. He doesn't miss.

He certainly missed in the awful J. Edgar, where he was once again miscast.

Leo is certainly bloated, so good casting.

Leo missed with The Beach and Gangs of New York. No one is perfect.

Gotcha, R12. It was still pretty raw in 1980, and I'm not sure folks would've responded to a blockbuster version as well as they did the T.V. movie. Oh, and apparently, the 2007 film is a documentary style film, with reenactments.

[quote] I still say Adam Driver would be better. Josh would be best but he's too old.

Adam Driver's height/appearance would have been enormously distracting.

When DiCaprio just morph into Jack Nicholson? He wants to be Jack so very bad.

Leo doesn't have Jack's sense of humor. Nicholson could be very funny, even in his serious roles. Leo just wants to be serious all the time.

Leo laughs at others.

He doesn’t source funny.

And, is it me, or does even adult Leo sound like an adolescent trying to come off as an adult?

We had a huge thread on Jonestown. It's morbidly fascinating.

Milk's relationship with the Temple was not entirely similar to other politicians' in Northern California. According to The San Francisco Examiner, Jones and his parishioners were a "potent political force", helping to elect Moscone (who appointed him to the Housing Authority), District Attorney Joseph Freitas, and Sheriff Richard Hongisto. . Milk spoke at the Temple and defended Jones in a letter to President Jimmy Carter in 1978. (In that letter he called Jones "a man of the highest character," and criticized outspoken Temple defectors for trying to "damage Rev. Jones' reputation" with "apparent bold-faced lies". However, When Milk learned Jones was backing both him and Art Agnos in 1976, he told friend Michael Wong, "Well fuck him. I'll take his workers, but, that's the game Jim Jones plays." But to his volunteers, he said: "Make sure you're always nice to the Peoples Temple. If they ask you to do something, do it, and then send them a note thanking them for asking you to do it."

Leo will have 4 Oscars within the next 5 years.

R157, yes I heard that. I wasn't trying to single Milk out, but just show that a politician is not above being a politician which is why...I am not a huge fan of them or could never trust them completely, no matter how revolutionary his sexual orientation may be.

He picks the best projects and directors out of all the actors working in the last 20-25 years.

Will he get the Academy to drink the Flavor-Aid and give him another Oscar?

He hasn't gone the dumb fratboy comedy route or the superhero route, so that's commendable. He could do it in a minute and make millions and millions if he wanted to, but so far he's picked interesting projects instead.

This story is so old and played out. Hollywood is creatively bankrupt.

^ It's not really old. It happened in the 70s. So recently. And it's not played out either. It's not like there is dozens of movies about Jim Jones and Jonestown. This will be the first "big" movie about it

LOL only on Datalounge are the 1970s "recent!"

R165 Humans have been on this planet for six millions years, dummy. So yeah, story from a few decades ago isn't old or played out.

Six million? Ok.

I better not see any product placement in this movie: neither Flavor Aid nor Kool Aid.

[quote] He picks the best projects and directors out of all the actors working in the last 20-25 years.

[quote] He hasn't gone the dumb fratboy comedy route or the superhero route, so that's commendable. He could do it in a minute and make millions and millions if he wanted to, but so far he's picked interesting projects instead.

He gets offered his choice of the best projects. He doesn't have to do comic book movies. Those comic book movies are lifeboats for some. He doesn't need that.

He could easily do a comic book movie if he wanted to. More people watch those than the films he does do, and it's a young audience.

R167 Human ancestors, not homo sapiens.

I really can’t see the saga of Jim Jones and The People’s Temple being a 2 - 3 hour movie. A limited series would be best. Otherwise, focus on the last day - particularly Jones’s sermon and pressuring of members to commit “revolutionary suicide”.