Universal Is Working on a New Version of ‘Scarface’

Say hello to my little friend. (Again.)

Deadline brings word that the on-again-off-again remake/reboot of Scarface is back on with a new creative team. This time Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino is attached to direct, while the Coen brothers, of all people, have written the script, which is reportedly set in Los Angeles.

This sounds markedly different from the previous attempts to reboot the series, which date back almost a decade:

The studio has been in development on the project for quite some time, going back to 2011, with David Ayer and Antoine Fuqua previously attached at directors as Deadline has broken the news on this project over various points. United Artists distributed the 1932 Howard Hawks-Richard Rosson movie while Universal released the icon 1983 Brian De Palma movie which starred Al Pacino as Cuban gangster Tony Montana.

It’s been almost three years since Ayer said he was no longer working on the newest Scarface. De Palma and Pacino’s Scarface being a significant pop culture touchstone in the ’90s — so much so that it even got its own video games, 2006’s Scarface: The World Is Yours and Scarface: Money. Power. Respect. It feels less relevant now than in 2011? The De Palma Scarface is all intensity and bluster and cocaine energy. A Luca Guadagnino/Coen brothers Scarface sounds very different from that. But I guess that could be what makes it interesting?

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