Universal Pictures has been spinning in circles in their efforts to get a contemporary version of “Scarface” off the ground. The journey so far has seen directors David Ayer, David Yates, Pablo Larrain, Antoine Fuqua, and then David Ayer again, all move in and out of the director’s chair. Meanwhile, Paul Attanasio, Terence Winter, and the Coen Brothers, have all taken a pass at the script. Well, the wheel has spun once more, and again landed on Fuqua.
Deadline reports that the director is back in conversations to helm the picture. Fuqua had originally dropped out to make “The Equalizer 2,” but now that film is nearing the finish line, and his calendar is presumably open. It does mean that the planned release date of August 10th of this year isn’t gonna happen, but that was pretty obvious for a while now.
The most recent draft of the script has four credited writers — Ayer, Jonathan Herman (“Straight Outta Compton“) and Joel and Ethan Coen — with the story set in contemporary Los Angeles, following follows a Mexican immigrant who searches for power and money. It should be noted that Ayer bailed on directing when Universal considered his vision “too dark” which makes you wonder if any of the executives have watched the Oliver Stone version. At any rate, we’ll see if Fuqua will take job and script as is, or if he’ll want to tailor it to his style. Or if this project will continue to rack up development costs inside Universal.