While there are no shortage of descriptions for Abel Ferrara—auteur, provacateur, New York city icon—they fail to capture the complexity of man whose body of work has captured acclaim and controversy, often at the same time. And one of the pictures that continues to resonate more than two decades after it landed on theater screens is 1990’s “King Of New York.” The Christopher Walken starring film is a brutal and seething tale of a kingpin’s fall and it’s reputation has been cemented thanks to a lively premiere at the New York Film Festival in which several audiences members (including Ferrara’s own wife) walked out and the story that it had to be cut down to avoid an X rating. So, what could be more natural than a prequel?
Way back in 2007 (and even before that), Ferrara revealed he had plans to return to the drug dealing underworld, for a movie tentatively called “The Last Crew” with the picture taking place in the ’70s. We recently got on the phone with the filmmaker and we had to ask him whether or not that prequel was still in the cards and it wasn’t something he wanted to get into at length, at least over the phone. Though he did reveal who he wanted to play the lead.
“It’s funny. I was just with Michael Pitt today who was going to be the lead actor. I hadn’t seen him in a long time,” Ferrara said, also admitting he hasn’t given up on the project. “You never say never. I don’t know, that’s a whole interview in itself. Let’s table that discussion for when we’re siting one on one and you have about an hour.”
Still, we had twenty minutes on the phone with Ferrara to talk about the upcoming re-release of “Ms. 45” (which starts rolling out on Friday) and much more. So be sure to stay tuned later this week when we’ll post the full conversation.
