Antoine Fuqua Back in Negotiations to Direct Scarface Remake

Just a little after a year ago, when Antoine Fuqua dropped out of directing the long-anticipated remake of Scarface, he is now again in talks with Universal to retake the helm. Fuqua is just finishing up his latest project, a sequel to The Equalizer with Denzel Washington, which was the main reason he dropped out in the first place. The new take on Scarface, its third iteration, tells a slightly different rendition of the classic gangster tale which was first made in 1932 and later in 1983 starring Al Pacino. The new version borrows the same rags-to-riches storyline, but places the narrative during present-day Los Angeles.

Diego Luna was attached to star in the film but that has become uncertain due to the film’s shifting production timeline and possible scheduling conflicts. Luna first came onto the project just a little over a year ago when he was enjoying monumental fame from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He is currently working on producing several forthcoming Mexican features, including Chicuarotes, about a group of Mexican teenagers trying to enrich their lives and directed by his friend Gael Garcia Bernal. Luna also will be seen in the controversial release of Woody Allen’s newest feature, A Rainy Day in New York with Rebecca Hall and Timothée Chalamet, who donated their entire salaries from the film to support sexual abuse victims.

The script for the new Scarface was last edited by the Coen brothers, who are no strangers to polishing scripts; however, there is no word yet if the script will be readjusted again. David Ayer of Suicide Squad stepped in to direct last summer while the film was looking for Fuqua’s replacement, but left the project after only a few months due to an aggressive timetable that conflicted with Bright. Scarface was then put on hold again with hopes to find another director and get production underway last fall in order to make an original August 2018 release date—however, that clearly did not happen.

Universal studios met with Fuqua last week and the meetings reportedly went well. There are hopes that the project will get back on its feet with their first-choice director, just a little later than expected. Fuqua has expressed interest in reviving this story for a very long time, citing the appeal of the criminal underworld and its violence that has played a major part in so many of his previous films.

“There are stories about that world that you couldn’t make up,” the director told Deadline. Fuqua went on to add:

Pablo Escobar had animals from Africa and they still don’t know how he got them. Right now they’ve been trying to figure out how to deal with the growing population of what they call cocaine hippos. It’s crazy. Their lives are so over the top, El Chapo and the rest of those guys. But how do you make him the icon of icons? Because we have a high bar for movie icons with Al Pacino’s Tony Montana and Michael Corleone. I took Denzel into that world as a cop in Training Day, and that was a world that I know probably way too much about. I know where to go with this. I have met a lot of these cartel dudes and understand their mentality, and this f*cked up version of Robin Hood. I saw it with guys I grew up with. It starts with, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do to feed my family. Then it turned into, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do to survive. Then it turned into, I want it all. Your moral compass gets lost in the darkness and excess.

Sounds like Fuqua is the number-one choice to direct this new Scarface, so we hope that it doesn’t fall through again. Stay tuned for more up-to-date news on the fate of this film.