Just in case his part in Woody Allen's "Celebrity" as a hotel room-trashing, orgy-loving creep isn't enough to send adoring 14-year-old girls sobbing from theaters, Leonardo DiCaprio's upcoming portrayal of doomed jazz star Chet Baker might do the trick.

Miramax has snapped up the rights to a biopic about the legendary trumpet player, who plummeted to his death from an Amsterdam hotel at the age of 58, as a star vehicle for DiCaprio, 24. The deal edges out two other box office lions, Brad Pitt and Jim Carrey, who had both pined for the role. DiCaprio and Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein's last-minute bid for the rights overshadowed Paramount's pitch, which would have landed Carrey in the role. Meanwhile, Brillstein-Grey's attempt to snag the material for Pitt was nixed by Baker's estate on the grounds that the production company's internal turmoil might bury the project.

Given that Baker died in 1988, some may be wondering what all the fuss is about. While the guaranteed cool jazz soundtrack (Baker's widow Carol and his four children are hoping the project will create new interest in the jazz man's catalog) is definitely a draw, even more appealing, at least for DiCaprio, is pretty-boy Baker's grim descent into drug addiction, poverty, and obscurity. Already an old pro at heroin shtick thanks to his role in "The Basketball Diaries," the "Titanic" star will undoubtedly enjoy further rumpling his heartthrob image by recreating Baker's decline from handsome to ravaged, a downward spiral that accelerated after Baker's teeth were kicked in during a fight.

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