No one should be surprised that Leonardo DiCaprio is a busy guy. J. Edgar hitting theaters this fall and Django Unchained getting ready to shoot in the imminent future for a release next Christmas would be enough, but he may get into the franchise game with Satori, and Martin Scorsese has got a thing or two cooking at the moment.

We now have another film to put on his roster: Deadline tells us that Warner Bros. has picked up a spec script called The Imitation Game for the actor to lead. Said spec follows Alan Turing, a British genius who helped devise things that seem basic to us by this point — algorithms and artificial intelligence among them, the latter of which was greatly affected by the Turning test, a process that, you know, tests how well a machine can function in terms of its own intelligence. Not to mention, he also worked as a codebreaker during World War II, which involved helping to create new methods that aided in the process. This spec has been written by Graham Moore, a first-time scribe who recently became a first-time author with his acclaimed novel The Sherlockian, a spin on the Sherlock Holmes character.

Buzz on it has been through the roof, with people who “read a lot of scripts” praising it as “the best script they’ve read in years.” The bidding was appropriately heated, with Warner Bros. winning it for somewhere in the area of seven figures; DiCaprio was a big factor in them picking it up, since he has his eye on the lead part.

It sounds like a good one for him to take, too. Being an “English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, computer scientist, criminally prosecuted homosexual, and tortured soul who committed suicide by eating a cyanide-laced apple,” it’s been called “The King’s Speech without the huge uplifting ending” by some; the awards could roll in at a pretty heavy rate. Genius, influence, concealed homosexuality, and a period piece. It’s as if someone took much of his career and rolled it up into one film.

Ron Howard is apparently “interested in directing,” and it seems like material suited for him — but his somewhat stale direction might weigh down an otherwise great project. Who may or may not direct it won’t dim my excitement right now, because this sounds like it could turn out to be terrific.

Are you interested in this film, based on what we’ve heard? Would DiCaprio be a good choice in your eyes?