Following the announcement of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story star Diego Luna taking on the role of Tony Montana from Al Pacino, the Scarface reboot is securing a makeover. From who you ask? None other than filmmakers Joel and Ethan Cohen. Said to be polishing up the screenplay in time for an August 10, 2018 debut, production is still on the lookout for a director to reimagine the Brian De Palma original.
The pair who brought us No Country For Old Men have history rewriting scripts for major Hollywood pictures. They did likewise for the Angelina Jolie title Unbroken and the Steven Spielberg flick Bridge of Spies. And now they are putting a modern spin on the gangster epic.
Director's Hot Seat A Race In Two<
This reboot is said to come down to two directors, who will take on the responsibility of making the picture appropriate for a 2018 audience. David Mackenzie and Pete Berg have been shortlisted by the studio. The duo are currently negotiating terms and exploring their personal vision for the picture.
50-year old Mackenzie is fresh off the 2016 critically acclaimed crime drama Hell or High Water, while Berg has been getting accustomed working with Mark Wahlberg for two titles in quick succession via Patriots Day and Deepwater Horizon. The decisive factor could come down to their relationship with the Cohen brothers and how they interpret the new script.
Montana A Product of the 80s
Speaking about the cultural phenomenon that was the film and the title character in Tony Montana back in 2015, Pacino said that there was something universal about the rags to riches rise that people fell in love with. Drawing parallels between that title and Wall Street, the veteran believes the strive for wealth and power was very much in keeping with that era.
“I look at Scarface and I don’t see that as the metaphor," remarked the actor. "I see what Brian De Palma was talking about when we made it. It was the crazy Eighties, the decade of avarice, greed and introducing that into the world; greed is good and the whole thing from Gecko in Wall Street. I thought it was a very socio-political statement, which is why rappers took to it. Hip-hop people were so buoyed up on Scarface. I know a lot of people who don’t deal drugs who are inspired by it. It’s about a kind of ingenuity, suddenly coming from the bottom and rising, which is why the original was so inspiring for me. There is something else too that seems to trigger off a certain thing, and that is this sense of his ideals as an outsider.”
Source: Variety, BNN, Independent
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