There are some movies that should never be remade, but Brian De Palma’s all-time classic Scarface definitely isn’t one of them, seeing as it was itself the remake of Howard Hawks’ 1932 great.
However, expecting lightning to strike three times for the same story is stretching the boundaries of credulity a touch too far, because it’s remarkable enough as it is that the original 1929 novel spawned two certifiable juggernauts of cinema that are both held in the highest of esteem.
Naturally, though, Hollywood has been trying and failing to get another version off the ground for well over a decade at this point. Call Me by Your Name‘s Luca Guadagnino has been officially attached since May of 2020, but according to the man himself at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival (per The Hindu), he said “I am not working on Scarface anymore.”
That puts him in the discard pile alongside David Yates, Pablo Larrain, and Antoine Fuqua, while the screenplay has been tackled by David Ayer, Paul Attanasio, Jonathan Herman, Terence Winter, the Coen brothers, and Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer at various points. We did say some movies should never be remade, but maybe some remakes should never be remade either, because Scarface hasn’t gained a shred of forward momentum since plans for a reinvention were first announced in 2011.
Given the monolithic status of Al Pacino’s outing as Tony Montana in particular, slapping the title on any feature opens the doors to scrutiny that could generously be labeled as intense, so maybe it’s better off placing this one back on the shelf permanently.