Filmmaker wants Leo DiCaprio to play a Muslim poet — and people are angry

When throwing around ideas to cast the role of 13th century Persian poet Rumi in a biopic of his life, producers naturally thought of ... Leonardo DiCaprio?

Screenwriter Dave Franzoni, known for his work on Gladiator, recently signed on to pen the biopic with Stephen Joel Brown producing. The two told The Guardian that while it was too early to begin casting, they would like Leonardo DiCaprio to play Rumi, and Robert Downey Jr. to star as Shams of Tabriz.

Rumi, a jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who was born in 1207 CE in present-day Afghanistan; and the Shams of Tabriz, an Iranian Muslim -- played by DiCaprio and Downey Jr.

Franzoni emphasized the importance of a biopic about one of the most lauded Muslim poets in history, telling The Guardian, "I think it's a world that needs to be spoken to; Rumi is hugely popular in the United States. I think it gives him a face and a story."

Naturally, many on Twitter were not too happy about giving a famous Muslim poet a face that looks like Leonardo DiCaprio. Social media was quick to call out the whitewashing, starting the hashtag #RumiWasntWhite Tuesday.

If Franzoni and Brown get their casting wishes fulfilled, this would not be the first time that Middle Eastern figures were cast with white actors. As recently as 2016, Gods of Egypt starred Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Scottish actor Gerard Butler as two Egyptian gods, as well as Australian actor Brenton Thwaites as the Egyptian mortal. And in 2014, the prophet Moses was played by Welsh actor Christian Bale, while in 2010 Jake Gyllenhaal played the title role in The Prince of Persia. The majority of these films bombed at the box office.