It could happen.

Last week word broke that DiCaprio had shown renewed interest in taking on the starring role in a biopic about Hollywood tycoon Howard Hughes to be directed by pal Michael Mann (Heat, The Last of the Mohicans). If a project comes together, it seems likely it would include at least some depiction of the eccentric Hughes' reputedly ambivalent sexual nature.

Known at times as "the world's greatest womanizer," Hughes is believed to have been romantically involved, at least in passing, with dozens of Hollywood's leading ladies, from Katharine Hepburn to Marilyn Monroe. But it's also been widely speculated that the famed aviator and movie producer had affairs with such prominent leading men as Cary Grant and Errol Flynn.

When DiCaprio and Mann initially discussed a Hughes biopic earlier this year, it was reported that the screenplay would be based on the critically praised biography Howard Hughes: The Untold Story, by Pat Broeske and Peter Harry Brown. Now the New York Post says the source could be Charles Higham's Howard Hughes: The Secret Life.

"I very extensively documented the fact that Howard Hughes had an affair with Cary Grant," Higham tells the Post. "I also found evidence that Hughes was arrested and charged with molesting a young man in Santa Monica, but spent a million dollars getting the charges dropped and his record cleared."

What does the noted celebrity biographer think of the potential casting of DiCaprio? "Hughes was childlike in many ways, pampered and spoiled, and he was very self-centered and self-absorbed. There is something in DiCaprio's personality which is very singular and concentrated, and I think [he'd] do well at conveying a self-obsessed, self-concerned personality."

Okaaay. Talk about your backhanded compliments.