David Ayer has talked about the Scarface reboot he wrote for Universal, which didn’t happen due to disagreements over tone, he says.
In 2011 – not long after the release of bodycam cop thriller End Of Watch – David Ayer was hired by Universal to write a reboot of Scarface. It was the start of a project that Ayer would remain involved with off-and-on for several years; originally, it was reported that David Yates would direct Ayer’s script. By 2017, other attempts at the same project – headed up by Pablo Larain and Antoine Fuqua, among other filmmakers – had fallen apart, and Ayer was back on board again, this time as writer and director.
Ayer’s version of Scarface was to be set in Los Angeles and would have starred Diego Luna as the titular gangster – contrasting the 1932 version, set in Chicago, and the 1983 one, set in Miami. Speaking to Total Film, Ayer reveals why this 2017 attempt also broke down. Reports at the time suggested that Ayer’s script was too violent for Universal; Ayer refutes this, but argues instead that there was a disagreement over the screenplay’s tone.
“It wasn’t too violent,” Ayer said. “I created this rich, soulful journey through the drug trade, and kind of what it is. The studio wanted something more… fun.”
According to Ayer, Universal hold Scarface in high esteem – it is, he says, the studio’s “biggest IP behind Jurassic Park. They want to capture as big of an audience as possible.”
It seems a little odd that a darkly antisocial gangster movie could be regarded as something that could sell lunchboxes like Jurassic Park, but then, Universal is likely aware that Brian De Palma’s 1983 film has become something of a cultural touchstone since, with its tone and dialogue seeping into music and videogame franchises like Rockstar’s absurdly popular Grand Theft Auto.
As for making a ‘fun’ version of Scarface – well, we’d argue that Wonka's beaten Universal to it. That film is about a stranger coming in from overseas and taking over a gaudy city with a superior, highly addictive product, all while staying one step ahead of the police (who happen to be under the control of the local cartel).
Perhaps there’s a Scarface: The Musical in the offing at Universal?
At any rate, Ayer regards his draft of Scarface as “one of the best scripts” he’s ever written. Too bad it’s unlikely to get made anytime soon – the last we heard, Universal’s reboot had lost yet another director, Luca Guadagnino. Forty years since Al Pacino played Tony ‘Scarface’ Montana, a new take on the material still hasn’t bubbled to the surface.
