The late, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes suddenly has all of Hollywood vying for his attention.

Hughes' life as an industrialist playboy, daring aviator, maverick movie-maker, and paranoid shut-in have attracted a number of film-industry heavyweights, and the latest to join the fray is Jim Carrey.

Variety reports that Carrey and "Memento" director Chris Nolan are talking about tackling the project and may be looking at buying rights to author Richard Hack's new book "Hughes: The Private Diaries, Letters and Memos."

But Carrey and Nolan may have a lot of competition to land that source material. Variety says at least two other bidders are circling Hack's work, including one effort built around Jude Law ("A.I.") and another under the direction of William Friedkin ("The French Connection," "The Exorcist").

To further muddy the waters, New Line Cinema is pushing ahead with their own Hughes project, with Leonardo DiCaprio teamed with director Michael Mann ("Ali," "The Insider"). And over the years, both Warren Beatty and Nicolas Cage have announced their intention to portray Hughes on screen.

Whatever happens with the rights to Hack's book, though, Variety says Carrey and Nolan's project will move forward, and will simply draw on existing public documents and other biographies as source material.


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