Has Ridley Scott left Morocco in the past few years? Actually, that’s not fair. Of course he has — he’s done A Good Year and American Gangster recently. Still, 2005’s Kingdom of Heaven and 2000’s Gladiator both shot there, as well as portions of 2001’s Black Hawk Down, if I’m not mistaken.

Now comes word from Daily Variety that Scott has already started scouting venues in, yes, Morocco for an adaptation of Washington Post columnist David Ignatius’ globe-trotting novel Body of Lies, to be written for the screen by The Departed screenwriter William Monahan. The book is about a journalist turned CIA agent who starts tracking down an Al Qaeda leader who may be planning a new attack on the United States. Also reportedly on board? Leonardo DiCaprio.

The actor’s final deal has to be negotiated, but DiCaprio has already worked the
picture, to be produced by Warner Bros. and tentatively slated for release in four-quarter 2008, into his busy schedule — slotting it for this fall, after first
reteaming with Titanic co-star Kate Winslet on Revolutionary Road,
Sam Mendes’ now-shooting, very chamber drama-sounding film about a 1950s suburban Connecticut couple coping with personal problems.

Maybe it’s a tax shelter thing, or maybe Scott just has some sort of time-share in Morocco…