Leo Warms to Global-Warming Film

For Kermit the Frog, it wasn't easy being green. Leonardo DiCaprio, not so much.

The eco-friendly actor has announced that his next project won't be a blockbuster directed by Scorsese or Cameron, but instead will be a feature-length documentary on global warming.

DiCaprio is producing, cowriting and narrating the film 11th Hour with an assist from Tree Media Group, a Santa Monica-based production outfit specializing in green-oriented programming.

"Global warming is not only the number one environmental challenge we face today, but one of the most important issues facing all of humanity," DiCaprio said in a statement. "We all have to do our part to raise awareness about global warming and the problems we as a people face in promoting a sustainable environmental future for our planet."

Production has already begun on 11th Hour, which is being codirected by Tree Media Group principals Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners, who also are writing the script with DiCaprio. Petersen and Conners previously collaborated with DiCaprio on the short films Global Warming and Water Planet, which the Titanic heartthrob has been hosting on leonardodicaprio.org.

Petersen is also producing 11th Hour along with Tree Media's Brian Gerber and Chuck Castleberry of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

"We made two short films beginning two years ago and [11th Hour] came out of those ideas," says Gerber, from his office in Santa Monica. "Leo helped cowrite and narrate the short projects so we collectively decided we should try and make a full-length version."

With global warming being blamed in part for the devastation wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Gulf Coast, the filmmakers believe the timing is right to launch their documentary.

"The project is really focused on looking forward and where we're headed," adds Gerber. "In a way, it's really a misnomer to say it's about the environment. The planet's going to be fine. It's really about people. Do we have clean water to drink and clean air to breathe? It's really about humanity's ability to live in a sustainable world."

Financing for 11th Hour was raised primarily from private investors, including DiCaprio, tree-hugging philanthropist Adam Lewis and professional poker player and environmentalist Doyle Brunson.

"I know we'll be able to raise a lot of awareness for an issue that plagues our world and could have devastating consequences down the road if nothing is done," says Brunson.

Shooting on the documentary is taking place in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles for a fall 2006 release. Already filmmakers are planning for the DVD release, which will include teaching guides.

DiCaprio established the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998 to work with various green groups to foster awareness about environmental issues.

The actor famously interviewed former President Bill Clinton in 2000 about U.S. environmental policy, has narrated his share of short documentaries on the subject, written a spoken-word piece titled "Global Warming," urged government leaders to attend the 2002 Earth Summit in South Africa and has even showed up at the Oscars in a hybrid car.

Such efforts have earned him awards from the likes of Global Green USA and Environment Now.

When he's not saving the planet, he has a day job to keep him busy.

DiCaprio has wrapped his third collaboration with Martin Scorsese, the cops and mobsters thriller The Departed, due out next August. In February, he's due to begin work on the action-adventure film Blood Diamond.

The two-time Oscar nominee is also considering reuniting with Scorsese for another film, a biopic of Theodore Roosevelt. And DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, recently obtained the rights to Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle as a possible starring vehicle for the actor.