What's your favorite ancient Norse saga? (And don't say Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks—everyone says that!) Well, make room in your heart for the new Mel Gibson-directed viking film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. It should be epic.

Gibson has knack for directing sweeping period dramas set in periods Hollywood usually passes over—"Braveheart" and 13th-century Scotland, "Apocalypto" and old-timey Central America, etc. He now casts his violent gaze to Viking-era Scandinavia. DiCaprio will star in the untitled film, presumably as a Viking. Variety reports that he was brought aboard by producer Graham King, a frequent Gibson collaborator who worked with DiCaprio in 2006's "The Departed". Also: DiCaprio is apparently a big Viking history buff! But will he have to learn ancient Norse? [Variety]

•Movies about black people killed this weekend. The top three films were: 1) "The Princess and the Frog" (animated black princess); 2) "Invictus" (black Nelson Mandela); and 3) "The Blind Side" (black football player.) However, the LA Times suggests that "Princess" may hit a $300 million brick wall next weekend in the form of James Cameron's insanely buzzed-about "Avatar," which is also about people of a certain color: blue. [LAT]

•Summit Entertainment has decided to put Roman Polanski's movies film-making skills before his 1977 conviction for raping a child: They will distribute his thriller "The Ghost Writer" next year. The movie stars Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor. [Variety]

•"Dexter's" Jennifer Carpenter will be starring aside Nic "Broke" Cage, Guy "Australian" Pearce and January "Not Good on Saturday Night Live" Jones in the indie thriller "Hungry Rabbit Jumps". Did we mention Nicolas Cage is broke? [Variety]

•In what Nikki Finke dubs a SHOCKER! Shia LaBeouf has decided to dump his agent, WME's Megan Silverman. Finke suggests the agentless Leonardo DiCaprio—Shia's "role model"—may have convinced him to go it alone. (That is, with only his manager and his attorney.) [Deadline]

•The History Channel has greenlighted a scripted miniseries about the Kennedys, which the Hollywood Reporter notes is a big move away from the World War II documentaries that appear to make up 90% of its programing. "Kennedy's," created by "24" co-creator Joel Surnow, will premier spring 2011. [THR]