UPDATE 7/23/2015 4:50 PM PT: Leonardo DiCaprio is being pursued to star in "Cartel" as DEA agent Art Keller, according to a report from Deadline.




Ridley Scott has signed on to direct Fox's adaptation of "The Cartel," the new novel by "Savages" author Don Winslow about the Mexican drug wars.

As The Hollywood Reporter indicates, the book includes a character based on Joaquin Guzman, aka El Chapo, the drug kingpin whose daring escape from a Mexican prison dominated the news earlier this month.

Release in June, "The Cartel" tells the intertwining stories of DEA Agent Art Keller and cartel leader Adán Barrera, who are engaged in a decades-old blood feud. Winslow conducted research on Guzman for more than a decade, and includes a fictionalized account of El Chapo's 2001 prison escape in the novel.

Scott will direct and produce, with Shane Salerno ("Savages," "Armageddon") providing the script.