AS LARRAIN'S "DREAM PROJECT" IS SUDDENLY OUT OF HIS HANDS
The Scarface remake just got a lot less interesting. When it was reported in March 2014 that Pablo Larraín was in negotiations to direct Universal's new remake of Scarface, this blog's ears perked up. And then this past March, Larraín told The Guardian's Danny Leigh that the Scarface remake was his dream project. Leigh states in the article that the film "would be set in Los Angeles, with a Mexican kingpin replacing the Cuban Tony Montana." Larraín also told Leigh that the project was, at that time, stuck in development.Well, "stuck in development" in this case appears to mean "we're looking for a new director." Today, Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr. reports that Antoine Fuqua is now in talks to direct the "re-imagining," as Fleming puts it. The film will still be set in Los Angeles, according to Fleming, but his article today says nothing about the character being Mexican, though it still seems a likely possibility, as Jonathan Herman is still mentioned as the latest screenwriter on the project (Herman was hired in March 2015 on the heels of writing the screenplay for Straight Outta Compton). The initial draft of this new Scarface was written by David Ayer, the writer of Training Day, which was directed by Fuqua. In between Ayer and Herman, Universal brought in Donnie Brasco screenwriter Paul Attanasio to do a rewrite on Ayer's draft.
And so that's where it stand for the moment. Fuqua is gearing up for the release next month of yet another remake, The Magnificent Seven, which will also be the opening night film at next month's Toronto International Film Festival.
And lest we forget to mention, twelve years ago, Fuqua was gearing up to direct Capone Rising, a prequel to Brian De Palma's The Untouchables. De Palma eventually decided that he wanted to direct that one, after all, but then that project got mired in red tape. In any case, here's a fun item from June 30, 2004:
Posted June 30 2004 FLASHBACK - 2004FUQUA WANTS SEAN PENN FOR UNTOUCHABLES 'PREQUEL'  One of the Hollywood projects Brian De Palma was considering taking on last fall was Tru Blu, the biopic of heroin smuggler Frank Lucas. But De Palma signed on for The Black Dahlia, and while he was working on that film, Antoine Fuqua, director of the upcoming King Arthur, signed on to direct Tru Blu. According to IESB.net, Fuqua mentioned at the King Arthur press junket that he will also be working on a prequel to The Untouchables. The prequel will focus on a young Al Capone, and Fuqua says his ideal choice of actor for the role would be Sean Penn. (Isn't Penn about the age right now that Robert De Niro was when he played Capone? The magic of movies.) Penn pal Benicio Del Toro will star opposite Denzel Washington in Fuqua's Tru Blu. But the intertextuality of Penn playing a younger version of De Niro after De Niro, early in his career, played a younger version of Marlon Brando in The Godfather: Part II is intriguing. Speaking of which, Fuqua also mentioned that he wants to direct a Godfather film. |
Posted by Geoff
at 6:30 PM CDT
Updated: Thursday, August 11, 2016 1:05 AM CDT
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Updated: Thursday, August 11, 2016 1:05 AM CDT
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