Scorsese to Tackle Frank Sinatra
Posted 05.15.09 by reelz
Universal and Mandalay will bring the first feature-length biopic of Frank Sinatra to the big screen, with the legendary Martin Scorsese directing. No actors are yet attached to the untitled project, but Leonardo DiCaprio should be considered a prime candidate, since he has starred in Scorsese's last four movies.
"Ol' Blue Eyes" received the small-screen treatment in 1992 with the TV miniseries Sinatra, which starred Philip Casnoff and won two Golden Globes. However, bringing a big-screen movie to fruition proved a daunting task. Executive producers Peter Guber and Cathy Schulman apparently worked for several years to acquire all the necessary rights to Sinatra's music and life story, Schulman told Variety:
The responsibility we are taking on to tell his story ... that would
cause anyone to be very careful about who they grant these rights to.... Everyone knows that Marty Scorsese is a final-cut director. So there had to be a lot of trust that he would tell this story in a way that didn't destroy [Sinatra's] memory.
Speaking about the movie itself, Schulman added:
It's not a cradle-to-the-grave traditional portrait of the consecutive
events in a man's life. Instead, it's more of a collage, and in many ways, it will feel like an album itself. It's a collection of various moments and impressions in his life, and together, we hope they'll tell the full story and present full themes.
The movie's screenwriter, Phil Alden Robinson, wrote and directed Field of Dreams. He's also executive producing with Sinatra's dauger, Tina Sinatra, and Gary LeMel, former president of worldwide music distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures.