DiCaprio Lends Acting Skills to Gaming Pioneer Biopic

Leonardo DiCaprio is mostly known for his portrayals in serious, dramatic films such as Titanic, Blood Diamond, The Man in the Iron Mask and The Departed. With a portfolio such as this, few would expect or believe his next proposed role: that of a video game pioneer.

Based on reports by Gamespot.com and Variety, DiCaprio has agreed to depict the life of Nolan Bushnell in the film, Atari, which is written by Brian Hecker and Craig Sherman. They faced considerable competition for the permission to chronicle his life, finally winning out when they promised that they could "do his unique story justice."



Bushnell was born in 1943 and is regarded as one of the gaming industry's forefathers. He founded his first company, titled Syzygy, in 1971 with his associate, Ted Dabney. According to Gamespot.com, the word, syzygy, "is an astronomical term which refers to the alignment of three or more celestial bodies in a straight line."



After realizing that this label was already in use, they then named their company Atari, a clever reference to the attacking position on the Chinese board game, Go!

Bushnell is primarily known for his role in producing Pong for Atari, along with the successful 2600 console. While these factors would guarantee success for the division, it was since sold to Warner Communication in 1976; Bushnell then left in 1979. The company now exists as part of Infogrames, having fallen on hard times.



While Bushnell is no longer directly involved with the industry, dedicating more of his efforts to business, having founded more than 20 companies which include Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre and Catalyst Technologies Venture Capital Group, he has had no problem expressing his true feelings about the current progression of the medium.



Bushnell has called today's games "pure, unmitigated trash" and specific titles "truly despicable." He also directed some of his ire at industry companies as well, labeling Sony "arrogant and capricious."



While this will be DiCaprio's first time portraying a gaming industry icon, he does have familiarity with playing pioneers, having depicted the life of Howard Hughes in the film, The Aviator. As video game movies are known for being substandard, here is hoping that Dicaprio can lend both star power and experience to his newest assignment, otherwise, he will have legions of angry gamers to answer to.