Antoine Fuqualikes to stay busy. He’s had one new movie every year since 2013, but apparently his schedule is too packed for him to stay attached to the remake ofScarface. As we reported back in September,The Wolf of Wall StreetscribeTerence Winteris penning the script, which would take the immigrant-to-kingpin story of the 1932 and 1983 movies and move it Los Angeles. This time around, the main character would be a Mexican immigrant.
ButVarietyreports that Fuqua’s workload can’t fit inScarface. The director has already invested a lot of time in a sequel toThe Equalizer, and Sony andDenzel Washingtonwant Fuqua busy prepping the film. That leaves him no time to work onScarface, which Universal wants to start shooting by the spring. Although Fuqua wanted to doScarface, he reportedly had put too much time intoThe Equalizer 2to give it up.
This means Universal is on the hunt for a newScarfacedirector, although Variety says they at least have their star locked down, withDiego Lunaon board to play the title character.
If we must make a newScarface, I’m glad that Fuqua is instead turning his attention back toThe Equalizerworld where he seems to have a lot more fun rather than something likeScarface, which is going to be much trickier to pull off. You certainly don’t want it to come off like a piece of anti-immigrant propaganda, but you also want it to be a compelling crime drama. That’s tough to handle, and I hope Universal finds the right director for the job. As for Fuqua, I’m glad he’s back trying to figure out new and inventive ways for Robert McCall to destroy bad guys.
