In the biopic, Leonardo DiCaprio will star as cult leader, Jim Jones, who was responsible for the infamous Jonestown massacre in November 1978.
Who was Jim Jones?
Jones was an eccentric personality and religious leader who founded the “Peoples Temple” in 1955. From there he outright reflected traditional Christianity and claimed that he was God.
In 1974 he established “Jonestown” in Guyana, South America, where he recruited a cult of followers who lived with him in this socialist paradise, “free from governmental control”.
Jonestown ended when rumours arose of human rights being abused. This is when the American government sent US Representative Leo Ryan on 18 November 1978 to Guyana to see conditions for himself. After the initial inspection went well, Ryan was on his way to leave when members of the Jonestown cult asked to go with him. And when Ryan allowed the members to leave the premises, Jones’ followers gunned them down.
Following the shooting, Jonas orchestrated a mass murder-suicide of his followers by making them drink Flavour Aid with cyanide. This unfathomable incident took the lives of 918 members, and 304 of them were children.
What do we know about the film?
As DiCaprio is still in final negotiations regarding the film, not much is further known. However, we do know that DiCaprio will portray Jones, and the script was written by Scott Rosenberg who also wrote Venom.
DiCaprio has never been one to shy away from playing real-life people in his career and even managed to win an Oscar for his portrayal of Hugh Glass in The Revenant.
It is expected that DiCaprio will thrive in his role as Jim Jones, as he has always been drawn to “enigmatic personalities” since it allows him to show off some of his more extreme acting skills.