By Armando

Following late last month’s departure of Antoine Fuqua (“The Equalizer”, “Magnificent Seven”) as director of Universal Pictures’ Scarface remake, The Coen Bros is said to have “been tapped to polish” the new movie’s screenplay, Variety reported. Joel and Ethan Coen will work on the original script from Terrence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street).

The Coen brothers are no strangers to writing screenplays that neither of the two directed. They also worked on the script of Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies (2015) and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken (2014).

Diego Luna is set to play the role famously played by Al Pacino in the 1983 (which itself is a remake of a 1932 film of the same name). Martin Bregman, who produced the 1983 original, comes back to produce the new version.

When Fuqua was attached, he said he was attracted to the movie’s relevance to current events. He then left the project due to his commitment to the next “Equalizer”.

No director has yet been announced to replace Fuqua for the project. Although according to The Hollywood Reporter, David MacKenzie (Hell or High Water) and Peter Berg (Patriots Day) are the front-runners to direct the remake and are meeting with Universal execs.

Released on December 9, 1983 to box office success, the 1983 Brian De Palma version is considered a cult-classic. While some may have reservations to seeing a re-imagined new version of Pacino’s Tony Montana, that movie was originally met with controversy and criticisms for its graphic violence and language. However, contemporary reception to the movie seem to have improved over time. It currently have an aggregate score of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes for its “stylized, ultra-violent and eminently quotable gangster epic that walks a thin white line between moral drama and celebratory excess.”

The Coen brothers most recently wrote and directed Hail, Caesar!, starring George Clooney. Having previously written and directed crime dramas in the past with Fargo and No Country For Old Men, Scarface would be right up their alley.

The new “Scarface” is set for an August 2018 release.