Paramount acquires Leonardo da Vinci biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio

Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Leonardo DiCaprio will be portraying famous artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci in an upcoming biopic that is being setup at Paramount.

Paramount won a seven-figure bidding war over Universal for the rights to author Walter Isaacson's upcoming book on da Vinci which the film will be based on, Variety reported.

DiCaprio will also be producing the project under his Appian Way banner alongside Jennifer Davisson.

Isaacson has previously penned books based on Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin. His work on Jobs was turned into a 2015 film starring Michael Fassbender and recently National Geographic adapted his book on Einstein for the series Genius.

The author's da Vinci book will be released on Oct. 17.

DiCaprio is said to have been named after da Vinci by his mother after she felt her unborn son kicking while she was observing a da Vinci painting at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, Entertainment Weekly reported.