The difficult quest for a director for Universal's Scarface continues since the studio has parted ways with Suicide Squad's David Ayer.
Ayer's take on the script was "too dark" for the studio's taste, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter, though given that Scarface is, as one insider put it, "the holy grail of contemporary gangster movies," a certain amount of darkness would be necessary.
Ayer won acclaim for penning the hard-hitting
Training Day and making gritty movies such as
End of Watch. Universal's
Scarface is to trade the Miami locale of the 1983 film version for L.A.
Scarface tells the story of the rise and fall of a gangster, which has seen previous versions made in 1932 and 1983, the latter of which came from director Brian De Palma and starred Al Pacino.
Diego Luna is still attached to play the West Coast Latino gangster. Dylan Clark will produce via his Dylan Clark Productions, along with Martin Bregman, who produced the 1983
Scarface film.
The search for a
Scarface director has been a long one.
Equalizer and
Training Day helmer Antoine Fuqua was attached to the project, before dropping out due to scheduling conflicts at the beginning of this year.
Hell or High Water director David MacKenzie and
Patriots Day helmer Peter Berg were also circling the project at one point.
After directing the Warner Bros. anti-hero ensemble
Suicide Squad, Ayer is heading to computer screens everywhere with the Netflix fantasy movie
Bright, starring Will Smith. He also is attached to a Warners remake of the Western
The Wild Bunch and will reteam with his
Suicide Squad star Margot Robbie for
Gotham City Sirens, which will be led by Robbie's Harley Quinn.
