Martin Scorsese might be taking another crack at Gangs Of New York on TV
This new Gangs Of New York will be a new story and not feature Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, or Daniel Day-Lewis
There’s always more Martin Scorsese news. No matter what’s happening in the world, you can bet your bottom dollar that we, the entertainment media, won’t miss the opportunity to talk about America’s patron saint of movie takes so hot they set the internet ablaze. And when the 79-year-old filmmaker is not criticizing the culture’s box office obsession or having Guillermo Del Toro come to his aid, he’s making film art. Lots of it. In addition to finishing up Killers Of The Flower Moon, attempting to keep Devil In The White City on track, and releasing a documentary about David Johansen of the New York Dolls, he’s also heading back to New York.
According to Deadline, Scorsese will direct the first two episodes of a Gangs Of New York television series. Written by playwright and Shantaram writer Brett Leonard and based on Herbert Asbury’s 1927 book, the series will not follow Scorsese’s 2002 film, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, or Daniel Day-Lewis. Yes, dear reader, if you can believe it, Daniel Day-Lewis will not be coming out of retirement for prestige television.
As noted by Deadline, this is the second attempt at apdapting Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated historical epic to TV. In 2013, he announced a series that would’ve focused on Gang Of Chicago and Gangs Of New Orleans in addition to New York. “This time and era of America’s history and heritage is rich with characters and stories that we could not fully explore in a two-hour film,” Scorsese said at the time of that announcement. “A television series allows us the time and creative freedom to bring this colorful world, and all the implications it had and still does on our society, to life.”
When Scorsese will have the time for this is anyone’s guess. His latest documentary, Personality Crisis: One Night Only, premiered at the New York Film Festival last night. First, however, he needs to recast Keanu Reeves and replace Todd Field, both of whom dropped out of Devil In The White City last week.