Although Universal’s fresh take on “Scarface” has acquired a new writer, still no director has been chosen, according to latest reports. Michael Mann, perhaps the American filmmaker most likely to do justice to the crime thriller, will surely factor in discussions for the job. Mann’s last two features, “Miami Vice” (2006) and the John Dillinger film “Public Enemies” (2009), were both distributed by Universal.
Deadline reported yesterday that Paul Attanasio, whose writing credits include “Quiz Show,” “Donnie Brasco,” and “The Good German,” had been hired to rewrite the draft of the script commissioned last September from David Ayer, the writer of “Training Day” and writer-director of “End of Watch.” The intention, apparently, is to put a contemporary spin on the rise-and-fall saga of a vicious immigrant gangster while avoiding a straightforward remake.
The movie will include aspects of the 1932 and 1983 versions, which respectively starred Paul Muni as an Al Capone-like Chicago Mob boss Tony Camonte and Al Pacino as Miami cocaine cartel kingpin Tony Montana. I
Written by Ben Hecht and directed by Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson, the first “Scarface” was one of the most violent films of the Pre-Code era. Complaints by censors that the film glamorized the gangster life led to producer Howard Hughes making cuts and having the ending reshot. Instead of Camonte being mown down by cops, in the second version he went to the gallows (a double standing in for Muni). But this failed to appease the censors so Hughes released a slightly modified cut of the original through United Artists.
Along with two Warner Bros. orgamized crime dramas set in Chicago, Mervyn LeRoy’s “Little Caesar” (1931, starring Edward G. Robinson) and William Wellman’s “Public Enemy” (1931, starring James Cagney), “Scarface” popularized the gangster genre during the early talkie era and set many of its tropes.
Brian De Palma’s operatic remake, written by Oliver Stone, achieved cult status after initially receiving poor reviews (the New York Times’s Vincent Canby being one of its few supporters). Excessively violent and proliferated by the word “fuck” and its compounds, it featured a flamboyant turn by Pacino – convincing as a Cuban, though real Cubans objected – and, as the icy Elvira, a starmaking one by Michelle Pfeiffer. The climax, a bloody Götterdämmerung that begins with Montana announcing “Say hello to my little friend” as he blasts through a door with his grenade launcher, features one of the greatest upward crane shots in cinema.
Unless a modern master like Mann is assigned to the new “Scarface,” De Palma’s film will be a tough act to follow, not least as a pop culture icon. It has spawned comic books, video games, and Tony Montana action figures. “Say hello to my little friend” has been quoted in at least ten movies and become an internationally popular ringtone.
“Scarface” Mark III is being produced by film industry veteran Martin Bregman, who produced De Palma’s film, and Mark Shmuger, former co-chairman of Universal. Shmuger launched his Global Produce production company last year.