Filmmaker Martin Scorsese ruffled some feathers (including some choice words from fellow filmmaker Boots Riley, behind the new heist comedy “I Love Boosters“) recently by backing an AI start-up after using the technology for storyboard prep. We had assumed it was connected to his supernatural ghost film “What Happens At Night,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Mads Mikkelsen. That’s not his only gestating feature, as there is word that his period crime flick set in Hawaii at Disney/20th Century Studios is now expected to shoot in 2027 (via Page Six) in the scenic American state/chain of islands, and the script is about “95% done” with some revisions from Scorsese’s notes happening over the summer.
That neat-sounding movie already has an impressive trio of actors attached with DiCaprio, Emily Blunt, and Dwayne Johnson. This would see Blunt and Johnson reteamed after working together on the A24 MMA sports drama “The Smashing Machine” from writer/director Benny Safdie and the Disney film “Jungle Cruise.”
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A logline for the movie from a previous Deadline report:
Focuses on a turbulent time on the island paradise when an aspiring mob boss battled rival crime factions to wrest control of the underworld of the Hawaiian islands. It was a bloody battle, the kind of terrain Scorsese covered in both “Goodfellas” and “The Departed.” In the 1960s and 70s, in Hawaii, this formidable and charismatic mob boss rises to build the islands’ most powerful criminal empire, waging a brutal war against mainland corporations and rival syndicates while fighting to preserve his ancestral land. It’s based on the untold true story of a man who fought to preserve his homeland through a ruthless quest for absolute power — igniting the last great American mob saga, where the war for cultural survival takes place in the unlikeliest of places: paradise.
The director isn’t the only person with controversy connected to the untitled film, as the script hails from Nick Bilton. If that name seems familiar, he was the executive producer hired by Bari Weiss to oversee the CBS-owned legacy investigative journalism program “60 Minutes.” He had recently been involved with firing journalist Scott Pelley after a meeting dust-up (leading to allegations of false accusations of physical altercation against Bilton) over the new David Ellison-installed regime (an obvious attempt to help the Trump government get better coverage by any means, in exchange for a green light for their hostile acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery), tinkering with their coverage, and raising ethical questions. After that, the remaining on-camera talent shared their own ultimatums that their reports shouldn’t be interfered with, or they’ll walk.
What jumped out about Bilton in the Page Six article, there is talk that Bilton is looking to bail on his duties at “60 Minutes” to travel to the Hawaii set in October; however, the outlet refutes a fall start, countering with a shoot in 2027 or even into 2028, so not happening anytime soon. So, Martin Scorsese likely can focus on completing “What Happens At Night,” and would obviously be the priority. Regardless of the production start, it’s starting to sound like the Hawaii-set film is going to be next.
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