Assassination was to be directed by David Mamet. Then Barry Levinson was hired. And now the legal fireworks are kicking off.
First announced back in late 2023, Assassination is not enjoying a quiet path to production. The project was announced back in 2023 with Barry Levinson at the helm, with the film set to explore ‘the story of how infamous Chicago mobster Sam Giancana arranged the assassination of President John F Kennedy as payback for trying to bring down organised crime after the mob helped put JFK in the White House.’
However, at the time of the project’s announcement, it was mentioned that Levinson had replaced co-writer David Mamet (pictured) in the director’s chair. If today’s report is anything to go by, that transition of power was anything but smooth. Nicholas Celozzi, the film’s other co-writer has now filed a lawsuit against 308, the film’s financiers, accusing them of firing Mamet ‘without authorisation’.
It is alleged that a result of Mamet’s firing, Shia LaBoeuf, John Travolta and Viggo Mortensen all left the project with only Al Pacino choosing to remain on board. The cast was then significantly retooled, with Jared Leto, Jessica Chastain, Brendan Fraser and Bryan Cranston now forming the ensemble that will line up alongside Pacino, who will reportedly play Gincana.
The project doesn’t even shoot until April and yet already finds itself in a rather public, rather messy situation.
Of course, lawsuits being chucked around ongoing film productions is nothing new, but the profile of both directors and the raft of names that left the project in the wake of Mamet’s departure elevate the legal matter into an interesting film story. Not least because there will be a renewed focus on how this one turns out given that the project’s financiers have elected to apparently steer things in different direction, even if some of the film’s creators clearly don’t agree.
David Mamet is the writer behind a series of classic 90s films including Glengarry, Glen Ross and Wag The Dog (the latter also directed by Levinson). but hasn’t directed a feature in two decades (he’s been making his political views very known). His successor, Levinson has a film coming out in the UK next month, the mob drama Alto Knights featuring Robert De Niro. You can catch the trailer for that one below. We’ll bring you more on Assassination as we hear it.
