Luca Guadagnino says that his Scarface remake will be very timely

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Hollywood has been developing a remake of SCARFACE for close to a decade, and that project has passed through the hands of several different writers and directors, including David Ayer (THE TAX COLLECTOR), David Yates (FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD), and Antoine Fuqua (INFINITE).

It was announced earlier this year that Luca Guadagnino (CALL ME BY YOUR NAME) was the latest director to board the SCARFACE remake, with a script penned by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, and the director spoke with Variety about what attracted him to the project.

People claim that I do only remakes, but the truth of the matter is cinema has been remaking itself throughout its existence. It’s not because it’s a lazy way of not being able to find original stories. It’s alway about looking at what certain stories say about our times. The first “Scarface” from Howard Hawkes was all about the prohibition era. Fifty years later, Oliver Stone and Brian De Palma make their version, which is so different from the Hawkes film. Both can stand on the shelf as two wonderful pieces of sculpture. Hopefully ours, forty-plus years later, will be another worthy reflection on a character who is a paradigm for our own compulsions for excess and ambition. I think my version will be very timely.

In addition to the SCARFACE remake, Guadagnino is also working on a sequel to CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, although the director refers to it as "a second chapter, a new chapter, a part two or something like that. I love those characters. I love those actors. The legacy of the movie and its reception made me feel I should continue walking the path with everybody. I’ve come up with a story and hopefully we will be able to put it on the page soon."

Back when the SCARFACE remake was in the hands of Antoine Fuqua, he also referred to the script as "very timely."

I read the script they have and it's actually really interesting and very timely. We're dealing with a lot of stuff now coming out of Mexico. And again, we still have those issues dealing with the "American Dream", and the fact that the game is rigged, right? It's not really an even playing field, but the promise is that it is. The promise is that everyone gets a fair shot, but that's not always the case. So that's always relevant, and right now with what's happening in Mexico, which is where [the main character] comes from — he comes out of Mexico — that's relevant, especially when you've got people talking about putting up walls and other kinds of stuff. We're still dealing with immigration, we're still dealing with what would turn someone into Scarface.

Luca Guadagnino last feature-film was SUSPIRIA, a remake of the film of the same name directed by Dario Argento.