Leo 'to co-star' in West End

Leonardo DiCaprio and Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire are poised to become the next high-profile Hollywood movie stars to appear on stage in the West End.

A producer of This Is Our Youth, the production which has already seen Matt Damon, Hayden Christensen and Jake Gyllenhaal make their West End debuts, said negotiations with DiCaprio and Maguire are well under way.

Should the actors - best friends for over a decade - agree to appear, the production, which closed at The Garrick Theatre in June, will aim to reopen in October or November.

Clare Lawrence said that discussions with the two are in progress, and that a final decision is "about a month, if not less, away".

Set in the Reagan era, This Is Our Youth was written by the cult American dramatist Kenneth Lonergan in 1996 and follows the fortunes of three young rich New Yorkers during 48 hours of drug abuse, inept romantic approaches and navel-gazing.

Lonergan has also written Gangs Of New York, the new Martin Scorsese film which stars DiCaprio.

A London spokesman for the show said that the play's other producer, Anna Waterhouse, is currently in Los Angeles and added: "We are very much at the mercy of filming schedules, but if these two actors are unable to come to London we will definitely be looking elsewhere. We hope to start rehearsals in September."

If DiCaprio, 27, and Maguire, 26, can make it, the producers will have to find an actress to appear alongside them. Star Wars' Natalie Portman or Spider-Man's Kirsten Dunst, who have both seen the play in London, would be ideal names to complete the cast.

Natural Born Killers star Woody Harrelson and Sex And The City's Kyle Maclachlan will be the next Hollywood actors to make their West End stage debuts when On An Average Day begins preview performances on 25 July.