Dennis Lehane reteams with Leonardo DiCaprio for 'Travis McGee'

There's no doubt that Hollywood loves the crime novels by Dennis Lehane, and in particular Leonardo DiCaprio can't seem to get enough of them. A couple of years ago he starred in an adaptation of Lehane's Shutter Island, and is producing Ben Affleck's Live By Night along with developing a big screen version of Running Out of Dog, both based on the author's stories. Now DiCaprio is ready to work with Lehane a little more directly, as 20th Century Fox have tapped the writer to script their long-developing WWII crime film, Travis McGee.

DiCaprio has been set to produce and star in the film since 2009, and it's certainly attracted a high-powered group of potential directors with Oliver Stone, Gary Fleder, and most recently Paul Greengrass circling. Considered the beginning of a potential franchise, Travis McGee is based on The Deep Blue Good-by, the first of twenty-one novels by John D. MacDonald centered on the titular "salvage consultant" officially described as "a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half..."

The first story has McGee attempting to find treasure hidden by a WWII soldier, and as usual running afoul of numerous villains along the way. Lehane has seen many of his novels adapted before, most notably Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, and is currently adapting his own short story Animal Rescue, which has Tom Hardy in the lead role. This will be the first time he'll adapt another author's work, however. So chalk this as a project worth keeping an eye on, and hopefully we'll get some confirmation on a director soon. [THR]