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  <abstract>Mel Gibson will direct Leonardo DiCaprio in an untitled Viking drama for "Departed" producer Graham King.</abstract>
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  <author>HitFix Staff</author>
  <body>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Producer Graham King is slowly becoming the Kevin Bacon of prestige producers.&amp;nbsp; The man who championed &amp;quot;The Departed&amp;quot; is now using his unique connections to make the improbable occur: a new Mel Gibson film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Variety reports that the untitled period drama will be set within the world of &amp;quot;Viking culture&amp;quot; and that King's &amp;quot;Departed&amp;quot; screenwriter William Monahan is working on the screenplay.&amp;nbsp; Unfortunately, many details of the project are remaining secret...for now.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Beyond the fact that Gibson's comeback after his drunk driving incident is almost full circle, this news is made possible by King's connection to all three men.&amp;nbsp; DiCaprio starred in King's aforementioned Best Picture winner which Monahan wrote.&amp;nbsp; Monahan also scripted Martin Campbell drama &amp;quot;Edge of Darkness.&amp;quot; King also just shepherded Monahan's directorial debut, &amp;quot;London Boulevard,&amp;quot; starring Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Like &amp;quot;Passion of the Christ&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Apocalypto,&amp;quot; this new film will be independently financed and search for a distributor after production is completed.&amp;nbsp; The film expects to begin shooting towards the end of 2010.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Coincidentally, Marvel Studios will dip into the world of the Vikings with the new superhero film &amp;quot;Thor&amp;quot; which also begins shooting next year.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
DiCaprio just finished Christopher Nolan's &amp;quot;Inception&amp;quot; and currently has no other projects on his slate.&amp;nbsp; Besides &amp;quot;Edge of Darkness,&amp;quot; Gibson has wrapped the dramedy &amp;quot;The Beaver&amp;quot; for director Jodie Foster.&lt;/p&gt;</body>
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  <created-at type="datetime">2009-12-14T07:42:31Z</created-at>
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  <deckhead>Epic promises to be as uncompromising as 'Braveheart' and 'Apocolypto'</deckhead>
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  <published-at type="datetime">2009-12-14T02:50:00Z</published-at>
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  <seo-title>Mel Gibson to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in new Viking tale</seo-title>
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  <title>Mel Gibson to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in new Viking tale</title>
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  <updated-at type="datetime">2009-12-14T07:51:35Z</updated-at>
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