From Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Clint Eastwood is seriously circling the job of directing Fox’s high profile Billy Ray-scripted untitled project about Richard Jewell, the heroic security guard who discovered a suspicious backpack in the Olympics compound during the 1996 games in Atlanta. Jewell, who’ll be played by two-time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill, was vilified as a possible terrorist, and his good work in helping clear bystanders from the area before the bomb exploded turned into a trip to the Twilight Zone.Leonardo DiCaprio is a possible to play the Southern lawyer who helped Jewell navigate that hell.

Some navigating has to be done to make this one happen with Eastwood. After the blockbuster American Sniper, Eastwood can have his pick of projects. But he has always been incredibly loyal to Warner Bros, the place where he has made movies for decades. So Warner Bros and Fox are trying to find some common ground which might involve them sharing the picture as co-production partners. All parties are wary at the moment, but doesn’t this sound too good not to happen?

The film is based on Marie Brenner’s 1997 Vanity Fair article The Ballad Of Richard Jewell. The lawyer that DiCaprio might play knew Jewell casually and mostly did real estate closings. He seemed over his head, but guided Jewell through the demoralizing nightmare that signaled the downside of the advent of the 24-hour news cycle. The FBI finally cleared Jewell three months later. The film will be produced by Appian Way’s DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran, Hill and Kevin Misher, the latter of whom brought in the article. Misher Films’ Andy Berman also will have a producing role. Mike Ireland is overseeing for Fox. It came together when Hill and DiCaprio were eager to set up another project together after they had such a good time making The Wolf of Wall Street, for which both got Oscar nominations.