Jared Leto to play Andy Warhol in new biopic

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Jared Leto will play pop art icon Andy Warhol in a new biopic.

News outlets reported Tuesday that the 44-year-old actor will portray the late artist in the forthcoming movie Warhol.

Leto will also co-produce the film with Michael De Luca (The Social Network, Moneyball) and Terence Winter (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire). Winter, who wrote The Wolf of Wall Street, will pen the screenplay.

Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Leto and De Luca have wanted to collaborate for some time. The pair acquired joint rights to the Victor Bockris book Warhol: The Biography, which will serve as the basis for the screenplay.

Warhol, who died at age 58 in 1987, was a leading figure in the pop art movement in the 1960s. His art studio, called The Factory, was frequented by an assortment of fellow artists, performers and celebrities, and produced music and films in addition to art.

Leto last starred as the Joker in Suicide Squad and will reportedly reprise the role in Justice League. He is also slated for the Blade Runner sequel with Ryan Gosling and The Outsider with Tadanobu Asano.