Shahrukh Khan to act with Leonardo DiCaprio in Xtreme City

Shahrukh Khan looks all set to share screen space with Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio in his much- touted international production, Xtreme City. The possibility of SRK and DiCaprio appearing together on screen gained ground with the Bollywood superstar managing to rope in veteran Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese as co-producer of his film.

Scorsese, whose masterful oeuvre as a director ranges from Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas to Gangs Of New York, The Departed and Shutter Island , has been known to be close to DiCaprio. The Oscar-winning filmmaker has directed the Hollywood superstar in all the three feature films he has made since Gangs of New York in 2003, when the two had first worked together.

Xtreme City will be directed by another Scorsese regular, Paul Schrader. To film buffs, Schrader is known as the man who scripted cult hits such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and The Last Temptation of Christ for Scorsese. Shah Rukh and Mushtaq Sheikh, who has scripted Xtreme City , struck the deal with Scorsese at the ongoing Berlin film festival. While SRK was at Berlin for a screening of My Name Is Khan with Karan Johar, Scorsese and DiCaprio were at the festival to host a special screening of Shutter Island.

“ It is fortunate that Martin Scorsese has agreed to be a part of the film. Now, things will start progressing. It will still take some time for us to go on floors with the film. As of now, we can only confirm SRK and Leonardo DiCaprio in the cast,” Mushtaq Sheikh said.

“ Our motto was to bring Hollywood and Bollywood closer with Xtreme City , and this film has managed to do so,” Sheikh added.

He further said that the setting of the film, as the name suggested was Mumbai, although Xtreme City would be shot in India as well as the US. On Scorsese’s reactions, Sheikh said: “ Martin believes in reading scripts very closely.

After reading the script of Xtreme City , he seemed pleased. So, we did not have to make too much of an effort to convince him. He also said he loves Bollywood movies and would be happy to be associated with the Hindi film industry.” Sheikh added that SRK hosted a hastily- drawn up meeting with Socrsese at his Hotel Regent suite in Berlin and the Hollywood veteran gracefully accepted despite the short notice.

“ They chatted over coffee, and Scorsese expressed his love for Hindi films cinema and spoke of how important it was to work on the preservation of cinematic classics,” he added.

Scorsese and DiCaprio were also officially presented with the screenplay of Xtreme City in Berlin. The inclusion of Scorsese in the credits of SRK’s ambitious venture not only augments its profile in the global arena, it also pitches the film in a megabudget bracket. With Scorsese’s name as co- producer, getting big funds to set up a Hollywood- standard production should be somewhat easier for Shah Rukh.

Reports suggest that Scorsese is keen to be a full- fledged partner in the production of the film along with SRK’s banner, Red Chillies. As co- producer of the film, Scorsese’s company Sikelia Productions will have an equal say in the creative decisions related to the film.

Currently, Schrader and Sheikh are working on details of the script.