Originally pitched by Dwayne Johnson, a period gangster film set in Hawaii and directed by Martin Scorsese could shoot in 2026, the star reveals.
Not everyone has the clout to ring up Martin Scorsese and pitch a gangster movie, but that’s exactly what Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson did a few months or so ago. In February, news emerged that Johnson and Scorsese are to collaborate on a currently untitled period gangster film, set in Hawaii in the 1960s and 1970s. Based on real-life organised criminals and events, the project is said to have Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt lined up for starring roles, while Johnson is set to work with journalist Nick Bilton to write a book based on the same subject.
It sounds as though progress on the film is moving quite rapidly. Yesterday (the 22nd April), Johnson appeared on The Pat McAfee Show – which we believe has something to do with wrestling – and talked enthusiastically about the project. The bit where he chats about Scorsese and Hawaiian gangsters begins at around the 55 minute mark in the video embedded below.
In it, Johnson says that, “next year, we’re going to start shooting. I’m excited.” (Thanks to World of Reel for bringing the video to our attention.)
Johnson also talked in a bit more detail about the film itself and what it’s about. It’ll detail the life and times of one Wilson ‘Nappy’ Pulawa, who rose to power in the late 1960s in a Hawaii where rival organisations were all vying for power. The film isn’t just about gangsters, Johnson explains, but is about the fate of Hawaii itself – an island state that has long been carved up and taken exploited by other countries, corporations and organised criminals.
In this regard, Pulawa – and his organisation, The Company – emerges as an unlikely hero; or as Johnson puts it, “Yes, he’s a gangster, he’s the godfather, ruthless – but he stands up to reclaim what was originally stolen. That was culture and that was land.”
It was this aspect that impressed Scorsese when Johnson pitched the idea to him: “He loved it, and [he was] blown away that the story’s never been told,” Johnson said. “No one does a gangster story better than Martin Scorsese.”
Johnson has also met Pulawa in Hawaii; now in his late 80s, he’s something of a celebrity in his own country.
“We went into a restaurant in Maui, and sure I turn a head or two, but I’m walking in with Nappy Pulawa, and this is the godfather of Hawaii… They [the staff] say, ‘It’s an honour to meet you and have you here.'”
Hawaiian himself, Johnson has evidently managed to win Pulawa’s confidence; the wrestler-turned-actor refers to Pulawa as ‘Uncle’, while Pulawa said in that restaurant, “I love you with all my heart. I trust no one but you with this [story].”
“Uncle,” Johnson asked the former gangster. “Do you have any regrets?”
“No,” Pulawa said, emphatically. “I’ll tell you why. In life, there’s right and there’s wrong. If you’re gonna live right, then you go for it and you live right. If you’re gonna live wrong, you’ve [got to] accept everything else that comes with it. I have no regrets.”
“So that’s going to be the project, with Emily [Blunt] and DiCaprio and Nick Bilton writing,” Johnson said. “We start shooting next year.”
Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Dwayne Johnson’s pitch has certainly won us over. We also noticed that Johnson appears to own a life-sized T-Rex skull (see the pic above). This seems only fitting somehow.
