Universal Pictures’ planned remake of Scarface has taken a step forward by hiring a new screenwriter.
Jonathan Herman, the co-writer of forthcoming NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton, has been drafted in to rewrite the film’s screenplay, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Screenwriters Paul Attanasio (Disclosure, Donnie Brasco) and David Ayer (Training Day, Fury) penned previous drafts.
Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín is set to direct the remake and Marty Bregman, producer of the classic 1983 film starring Al Pacino, will serve as one its producers.
The iconic 1983 Scarface film is itself a remake of a 1932 film also titled Scarface. It follows a Cuban refugee called Tony Montana, played by Pacino, who arrives in 1980s Miami penniless but hustles ruthlessly to become a powerful drug baron. Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Steven Bauer co-star.
The new remake will relocate the action from Miami to Los Angeles and track a criminal’s rise in the city’s criminal underworld. Casting for the remake has yet to take place.