It's Fox out, Scorsese in on Baz Luhrmann's Alexander the Great project

Twentieth Century Fox has pulled out as a co-backer of Baz Luhrmann's upcoming screen biography of gay conqueror Alexander the Great, according to The Hollywood Reporter, but DreamWorks has stepped in to share the budget burden with Universal Pictures, who will distribute the film in the United States. Alexander the Great, which will star Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, has also picked up Martin Scorsese--DiCaprio's Gangs of New York director, who at one point had been developing his own Alexander project--as an executive producer alongside Dino and Martha De Laurentiis.

The Reporter also says that Nicole Kidman has expressed interest in playing Alexander's mother, Olympia, but negotiations would not begin until after the new year. The role would call for her to see her son age from childhood to manhood.