After Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Biutiful) signed on to direct New Regency’s The Revenant, he turned his sights to casting the adaptation of the Michael Punke novel. He’s chosen to target Leonardo DiCaprio, arguably the most wanted man in Hollywood at the moment. DiCaprio would play Hugh Glass, an 1820s frontiersman mauled by a bear during a fur trapping expedition. Glass hires two of the men to stay with him until he recovers. They rob him and leave him behind, expecting him to die, but Glass recovers and seeks them out for revenge. Sean Penn is being courted to play one of the heartless robbers.DiCaprio can next be seen starring in Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar and is preparing for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Sean Penn is currently shooting Gangster Squad. Hit the jump for more.Deadline reported on Inarritu’s wish list to fill his cast, though DiCaprio is on everyone’s radar at the moment. Not only will he be starring in Django Unchained on Christmas day in 2012, but he’ll be opening against himself in Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby. DiCaprio has been eyed to play brilliant mathematician Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, a WW-II-era Westerner trained as a Japanese assassin in Satori, and may reprise James Caan’s role in Martin Scorsese’s remake of The Gambler. Not to be outdone, Sean Penn will direct The Comedian, starring Robert DeNiro. Penn can next be seen in Warner Bros.’ Gangster Squad on October 19th, 2012.the-revenant-book-cover-imageHere's the synopsis for The Revenant:

Already sold to Warner Bros. for a major motion picture, this riveting novel of the frontier evokes such classics as Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and A. B. Guthrie's The Big Sky. Michael Punke's The Revenant tells a story of nearly unimaginable human endurance over 3,000 miles of uncharted American wilderness, spanning what is today the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and Nebraska. Based on the real life of fur trapper Hugh Glass, The Revenant recounts the toll of envy and betrayal, and the power of obsession and vengeance. Punke's novel opens in 1823, when thirty-six-year-old Hugh Glass joins the Rocky Mountain Fur Co. on a venture into perilous, unexplored territory. After being savagely mauled by a grizzly bear, his nearly lifeless body is left in the care of two volunteers from the company—John Fitzgerald, a ruthless mercenary, and young Jim Bridger, the future "King of the Mountain Men." When Indians approach their camp, Fitzgerald and Bridger abandon Glass. Worse yet, they rob the wounded man of his weapons and tools—the very things that might have given him a chance on his own. Deserted, defenseless, and furious, Glass vows his survival. And his revenge. [Amazon]