In Howard Hawks’ 1932 Scarface, Paul Muni’s Tony Camonte is an Italian who takes over the illegal booze business in Chicago from the Irish mobs. In the 1983 update from Brian De Palma, Al Pacino’s Tony Montana is a Cuban taking over the cocaine trade in Miami. Now it’s time for a new Tony to take over a new illegal trade from the outside.
Universal announced a new version last September, and then hired David Ayer to write the script, but now Deadline Hollywood is reporting that they’ve hired Paul Attanasio (Donnie Brasco, The Good German) to do a rewrite.
Ayer was a strong choice with his background writing popular action (The Fast and The Furious, Training Day) as well as his celebrated new End of Watch, but Attanasio has a similar pedigree that also includes extensive work on Homocide: Life on the Street. The question now is where the new Tony comes from and what drugs he’ll be dealing. The best suggestion? Have him come from the high school chemistry department to sell meth.