Imagine, if you will, Tony Montana and Manny Ribera cruising along the streets of Miami at night. Then imagine that this is the exchange that occurs between them.
Tony Montana: Me, I want what’s coming to me.
Manny Ribera: Oh, well what’s coming to you?
Tony Montana: A remake, chico, one that takes place in L.A. this time.
Yes, remake. And though it’s not a word that many fans will want to hear in relation to Brian DePalma’s classic 1983 film – it appears that Universal’s remake of Scarface is moving forward.
Now this actually won’t be the first time the movie Scarface will have been remade. The 1983 version, that starred Al Pacino, was actually a remake of the original 1932 film, that featured Paul Muni in the role of the violent gangster who makes a meteoric rise to the top of the criminal underworld.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal is bringing in Jonathan Herman, who previously wrote the script for Straight Outta Compton, to rewrite a script that was originally being drafted by Paul Attanasio and David Ayer. It has also been announced that Pablo Lorraine will be directing this re-imagining of the classic gangster story.
The new film will likely explore the familiar storyline of the first two films, telling the tale of an immigrant’s violent path, as he rises to a place of power in the criminal underworld. The previous versions took place in mafia controlled 1920’s Chicago (1932) and cocaine plagued early 80’s Miami (1983) respectively, with the new film to be set in Los Angeles.
There has been no casting news thus far, but the studio will definitely have it’s work cut out, in trying to create a new incarnation of the character that can live up to predecessors like Tony Montana and Tony Camonte.