Leonardo DiCaprio plans to play former President Theodore Roosevelt for his next film role.

The Wolf of Wall Street actor is pushing for a biopic of the 26th leader of the US to go into production with director Martin Scorsese at the helm. "Leo is telling friends that after his latest movie proved to be a massive box office hit, he's pushing forward with his biopic of Roosevelt which will re-team him with Martin Scorsese. He says it's 'now or never' as he's patiently waited almost a decade for the money to materialize," a source said.

Leonardo will likely have to bulk out to play the strapping president - who was in office from1901 to 1909 - but the source says he's up for the challenge. "He'll do whatever it takes. This is the movie Leo wants to win an Oscar for, and he talks about it all the time," the insider said.

The movie will be based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, but some in Leonardo's camp are worried about the appeal of a political movie, after his last real life historical piece, 2011's J. Edgar - about famed former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover - was a flop.