Actor will star in biopic of Billy Milligan, a schizophrenic who successfully defended robbery and rape charges by arguing that the crimes were the work of two of his 24 personalities

Leonardo DiCaprio will star in the real-life tale of a man acquitted of rape and robbery after convincing a jury that he had 24 different personalities, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Biopic The Crowded Room is one of Hollywood’s longest-gestating projects. Based on the life of Billy Milligan, reputedly the first person to successfully use multiple personality disorder as a defence in court, the film was first mooted in the early 1990s with James Cameron tipped to write and direct.

Directors Joel Schumacher and David Fincher were also attached at various points, while Matthew McConaughey, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and John Cusack have all been eyed for the role of Milligan. DiCaprio has been interested in taking the part since 1997.

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Milligan, who died in December 2014 at the age of 59, was charged with robbery and the rape of three women on the Ohio State University campus in 1977. At trial, he and his lawyers argued that two of his alternate personalities had committed the crimes without the knowledge of Milligan or his other personalities. Adalana, a lesbian who cooked and cleaned for the others, supposedly admitted to the rapes, while a Yugoslavian communist named Ragen owned up to the robbery.

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Milligan’s complex psychological makeup included a further two females, one a three-year-old girl, an Australian and a sophisticated and educated Englishman named Arthur. Thirteen personalities had been labelled undesirable by the others for perceived failings and crimes against the rest.

The Crowded Room is expected to be written by Lucky Number Slevin’s Jason Smilovic, along with Todd Katzberg. They will adapt Daniel Keyes’ 1981 non-fiction novel The Minds of Billy Milligan for the project. DiCaprio will also produce through his Appian Way production company.