HOLLYWOOD stars are rejecting lucrative roles in block-buster action films in favour of intelligent political thrillers, aimed at older, more thoughtful cinemagoers.

Major studios are losing interest in teenage consumers who prefer to spend their money on video games. Instead, encouraged by recent hits such as Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and George Clooney’s Syr-iana, they are seeking to coax adults back into the cinema.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hanks are among dozens of actors who will star in more than 100 antiestablishment films due to be released before the next presidential election.

This week DiCaprio, an Oscar contender for his politically charged thriller Blood Diamond, will reveal details of his future film Conspiracy of Fools.

It is centred on the collapse of the Texas energy company Enron and its donations to George W Bush’s election fund. Such a film coming out close to the election may embarrass a Republican candidate immune to more direct political attacks.

DiCaprio, 32, has spent a decade trying to bury his puppyish romantic image created in Titanic. Now his production company is developing a series of films to display what friends call the “serious Leo”.

These include The Infiltrator, about a real-life MI5 mole in the IRA, and the story of psychedelic drug pioneer Timothy Leary.

DiCaprio is far from alone in tackling the dark side of America: after years of playing Hollywood’s favourite sunny blonde, Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon is “going dark” to tackle the CIA policy of kidnapping terror suspects for interrogation in Third World jails. The 30-year-old actress has effectively taken a pay cut to focus on this film, Rendition, rather than work on a supernatural thriller which was expected to earn her a record salary.

An older generation of stars is also making celluloid polemics: Tom Hanks, 50, is teaming up with Julia Roberts, 39, to make a cautionary tale called Charlie Wilson’s War.

Based on a true story, the film is about a larger-than-life Texan politician who increased CIA aid to Muslim rebels fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the early 1980s.

Many of the films in the pipe-line, such as Johnny Depp’s proposed movie about poisoned dissident Alexander Litvinenko, are low budget, which makes them low risk for Hollywood financiers. Paul Dergarabedian, a box-office analyst, said: “We are seeing this flood of political thrillers and documentaries right now because it flatters the stars and also makes money.

“Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, Americans are more aware of the world outside and the political acts carried out in their name. They may not trust the politicians, but they like a good story and American politics does have some pretty amazing stories right now.”

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