“They wanted something funny!” Why the Scarface reboot was abandoned

David Ayer, the director of Fury and Suicide Squad, will ultimately not remake the famous gangster film.

The reboot project Scarface of Brian de Palmain which Al Pacino plays Tony Montana, a Cuban drug lord on the rise, who has been stalling for a while without finding a suitable director. Several candidates came forward with different proposals: Antoine Fuqua (Training Daythe trilogy Equalizer), which ultimately takes care of the biopic on Michael Jackson; Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Bones and All) who wanted to make a reflective film that he found “very apropos” and finally David Ayer (Fury, Suicide Squad) who explains in a recent interview for Total Filmwhy he won’t be the lucky one either.

As De Palma’s version celebrates its 40th anniversary today, let’s take a moment to focus on this aborted project.

“One of the best scripts I’ve written is my version of Scarface. It circulated in Hollywood and among independents. It’s funny when people talk about the project. ‘Is this Ayer’s script?’ ‘No, it’s someone else. Oh, okay.’” he says. Universal refused its version, not because of the violence, but because the script lacked… humor! “It wasn’t too violent. Violence – I can cover it up”, he declares confidently. “It’s easy, it’s the basics of the director.”

Scarface: the underside of the cult chainsaw scene

It is rather on the merits that the studio found itself in disagreement with the project: “I created a rich and deep journey through the world of drugs (…) The studio just wanted something funnier”, explains the filmmaker. Nevertheless, David Ayer has no resentment towards Universal with whom he got along very well, and whose decision he completely understands: “They want to reach as wide an audience as possible. I love Universal. Incredible people. I had this very honest conversation about what movie they wish they had made and what movie I wanted to make. There is a beautiful connection between us. It’s just easier to say ‘let’s put this aside’”.

Scarface of Brian de Palma was released in 1983 and was written by Oliver Stone. It is itself a very free remake of Scarface by Howard Hawks, released in 1932 and set during Prohibition. The reboot project therefore does not yet have a captain to lead it.

David Ayer will soon release his next film, a muscular actioner with Jason Statham as a very angry beekeeper-spy: The Beekeeper. The film does not yet have a scheduled release date.