Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. You can decry the state of Hollywood all day (and I'll join you), but you can't count out Martin Scorsese's ability to remake movies incredibly well. I love the original Cape Fear to death. I flipped out for Infernal Affairs when I saw it AFM... but that doesn't mean I didn't flip out for The Departed as well. His remake of Cape Fear was fantastic as well.
So, when I hear that William Monahan is writing a remake of one of James Caan's lesser-known '70s flicks, The Gambler, with Scorsese potentially helming and Leonardo DiCaprio being eye-balled for the lead I don't automatically get the heebie-jeebies.
Longtime AICN readers may remember that the James Caan original was covered in my run of A Movie A Day (read my review here) and I really dug the flick. It had that '70s grit you don't get in most film today, especially most studio films. James Caan's character was a fantastic flawed character, the kind I lamented in my review that we don't see anymore and that any actor would jump at the chance to play.
Well, our Mr. DiCaprio looks to be the one jumping according to Deadline, which I believe beat The Hollywood Reporter to the exclusive by a whopping 4 minutes. They differ in their reporting, though. Deadline says that DiCaprio is in, but Scorsese isn't committed and THR says Scorsese is in, but DiCaprio isn't a done deal. Either way, I'm sure both are wanting to work together again.
It's a great team who have a proven track record of turning out great material together and if Monahan is able to translate that gritty '70s tone and perfectly flawed character work into a new film then this would be one I'd be eager to see adapted for a new generation.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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