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EXCLUSIVE: In what shapes up as a reteam for the writer, director and star of the Oscar-winning The Departed, Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star in The Gambler, a Paramount remake of the 1974 drama. James Caan starred in writer James Toback’s autobiographical original screenplay as an academic whose gambling addiction begins to get the best of him. William Monahan is writing the script as a potential directing vehicle for Martin Scorsese. Irwin Winkler and Bob Chartoff are attached as producers. DiCaprio recently completed the Clint Eastwood-directed J. Edgar, and he’s playing Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s remake of The Great Gatsby for Warner Bros, based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic. DiCaprio then takes a villainous turn in the Quentin Tarantino-directed Django Unchained for The Weinstein Company.
The gambler was a gritty film which Caan did when he was one of the top stars in Hollywood. His gambling addiction got to the point where he convinces a student athlete to shave points so he can win a bet, and the high he experiences from risking everything takes him into even darker places. DiCaprio has so far starred for Scorsese in Shutter Island, The Departed, The Aviator and The Gangs of New York. DiCaprio is repped by Rick Yorn.
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Leo is a good actor. I wish he’d start taking some acting risks. Material that is not so center.
Thanks.
He used to take bigger risks. Gilbert Grape was a big one. These days he seems to stick with serious, angry type roles with his character borderline crazy.
This kid`d be a legend if he had James Coburn`s pipes…still sounds like Gilbert.
He played Arnie, not Gilbert.
Have you read even just the synopsis of Django Unchained? If that isn’t a risk I don’t know what is.
Agreed. I just hope he gets the accent correct. Most actors screw up Southern accents by over-doing it to the point it sounds like a spoof on a Southerner. I don’t want to hear Dicaprio sounding like Mater from “Cars”.
If he does a good accent…..people will notice his performance. If he does a bad accent….people will notice the bad accent.
WTF happen to the “Wolf on wall street”??!
Thank goodness, a remake.
So sad… not a streak of originality left in this business. DiCaprio should try working with more up and coming writer/directors. I know of several projects that he’d be perfect for right now, but because the filmmakers aren’t Marty or Quentin, he won’t go near them. I hate this bullshit remake phase the industry appears stuck in. With every passing day this creatively bankrupt contagion keeps spreading. It’s all about the fucking pitch. Any kind of name association to create an impression. This will be the death of movies, period unless some of these studio heads take the bold stand and issue the edict: no more remakes.
Completely agree. I also think Scorsese should hook up to with a more interesting actor. Ryan Gosling comes to mind. Leo is just so incredibly boring most of the time.
And enough with the re-makes. I bet there are tons of interesting, original scripts out there.
Boy you said it Case. But working with Tarantino should free him up. Hopefully.
DiCaprio then takes a villainous turn…..
HAHAHAHA, yeah right…
Wolf of Wallstreet’s got a fantastic script by Terry Winter. I can’t believe it still hasn’t got made.
It’s starts out really good. But then it gets tiresome. In this economy, who wants to see a movie about a drug addicted millionaire who cheats on his wife and screws hookers while living off the money from Joe Schmoe who he conned into buying a penny stock and probably ended up losing his life savings?
Don’t get me wrong, Winter is really talented, but it’s just not the right time for WOLF OF WALL STREET.
I can’t decide which is more boring… Scorsese constantly chosing Leo for the the lead in ALL his films (yes i know “Hugo Cabret” is the exception), or Leo constantly doing Scorsese films, even though he’s usually not 100% right for any of the roles.
Sigh. Really? Leo is a great actor but this just sounds like another flick where he ‘loses it’. Nothing bad to say about Scorsese but… (shrug). Just zero excitement here.
And, c’mon, who gets excited about gambling movies? None of them have a lasting effect. You’re asking the audience to sympathize with a character who’s an addict.
Your comment is a joke, right? Or are you saying that human beings can’t recognize and sympathize with obsessions and addictions? I mean – if your comment wasn’t a joke – then one would have to assume that you think you’re perfect and that every other human being in the world is beneath you; and you wouldn’t be THAT much of an awful person, would you?
Alright calm down, I’m not talking about real life. Separate reality and fantasy here. In the movie world, I definitely would not sympathize with a protagonist who’s addicted to gambling. Why would you pay to see that? I go to the movies to see stories with a main character that is relatable and admirable. No one wants to watch a character battle his gambling demons for two hours because the solution is pretty uneventful; just stop gambling dummy!
Well, I can’t think of one relatable or admirable thing about most of the compelling characters I’ve watched on screen through the years! Characters don’t have to be admirable for me to find them compelling and their story arc facinating. Deniro’s Travis Bickle isn’t admirable, even his “efforts” to talk Jodie Foster’s teenage prostitute character out of tricking are dubious at the least, and actually more a reflection on his conscience of being enveloped in the seedy world of NYC in the 1970′s. Travis Bickle is a f’cking psycho but Taxi Driver is one of my favorite movies of all time. I despise and love most of the Coen brother’s main characters; in fact, they are some of my favorite risk-taking filmmakers working today.
Hell, the French have made an entire industry of characters battling their demons on screen; Alain Delon is brilliant in Le Samourai! Le Circle Rouge is full of tension and its bandits are not exactly of the highest morals!
I could go on forever, but the point is, filmmaking is not as simplified as making movies about admirable characters. An audience can relate to the story on many different levels if it’s a good story, while still disliking the character’s motive or overall beliefs. At least, that’s what I think.
Rounders was a movie that single handedly put poker on the mainstream map. In 2010, $6 billion in bets were placed online alone (not even including live poker). (For comparison, Major League Baseball is a $6 billion industry annually.) So here’s at least 1 gambling movie that got people excited and had a very lasting effect.
You could have mentioned that the brilliant Karel Reisz directed the original from a James Toback script. I thought it was an excellent film and a great use of Caan’s talents. If it wasn’t Scorcese/Leo, I’d say it didn’t need a remake, but the “message” is timeless. I look forward to it.
Yes, the original movie was fine, but it was not a particularly successful film, didn’t garner awards, so..why? and I agree that movies about gamblers almost invariably fail; unlike substance addiction, it’s hard to sympathize even though it’s admittedly every bit as ‘legit’ as the other isms, it feels like something people should be able to stop. But that aside, the more depressing part of this announcement is, as other posters have stated, ANOTHER REMAKE?? Why, in a town full of talented writers with great original material, do the studios have to keep doing remakes? I know they’re risk averse, but if they want source material there are thousands of books, plays, short stories,etc And it’s not as if this strategy has been so wildly successful, either. Arthur, Conan, Predators,The In Laws, and I’m sure others I’m forgetting.
Lazy.Boring. Sigh.
Yes, the original movie was fine, but it was not a particularly successful film, didn’t garner awards, so..why?
Actually, that’s what studios should be doing more of. Instead of pointless remakes of classics like Psycho and Straw Dogs, they should do more films that were just OK, but didn’t set the world on fire. The original film earns a second look from film fans, and the new film might — repeat, might — be something that is higher on an artistic level.
Fuck, just remake The Departed, it’s been what, three years? It’s time. I want to see it. Just remake it with Leo in the Wahlberg role. Then keep going. piss on all of them. Have him play Travis Bickle, Jake La Motta, and the cgi him in every role in Goodfellas.
The Scorcese/Leo thing is getting tiresome. Both are insanely talented, clearly. But, this pairing is just old. Wash, rinse, repeat, with nothing new, or exciting, ever really coming from it.
Then again, that pretty much sums up most of the studio mentality.
It’s as tired as the endless Depp/Burton collaborations. These people need to step out of their friggin comfort zone already. Otherwise, I might stop thinking they’re talented. Over the past few years I’ve really started losing interest in Johnny Depp playing the same childish, quirky outcast. And Rum Diary just looks like Fear and Loathing set on a beach.
“Rum Diary just looks like Fear and Loathing set on a beach.”
What’s wrong with that?
The trailer for RUM DIARY looks great, can’t wait. That is Johnny stepping out of his $20M paycheck comfort zone.
OK, Marty, cue the Rolling Stones soundtrack. Hit “Tumblin’ Dice” in 3…2…1
DeCaprio is miscast in so many of his films. He was a disaster in The Aviator. I didn’t buy him as Howard Hughes, for a minute. I caught a bit of Blood Diamond on tv and 5 minutes was all I could take…his accent was a joke. I know everyone says his name prefaced with “insanely talented” but I don’t care for him. He never seems to sink into a role. He just always seems to be pudgy ‘ole Leo.
Leo was nominated for an Academy Award for Aviator and a Golden Globe for Blood Diamond. Obviously, you have a better eye for talent than the Academy voters, I would LOVE to hire you as a casting director! Are you available????
Mad About You sitcom star Helen Hunt is an Academy Award Winning Actress. Just sayin.’
Nominated for an Oscar for Blood Diamond, too. Should have been nominated for The Departed and Revolutionary Road, too.
I really don’t mind this. The original was one of my “Late Late Show”, favorites way back when. I mention it to people, they think I’m talking about some Kenny Rogers shoot em up. Of course if this was a new script it would never get made in the first place.
That’s why I clicked this. “Leo’s remaking a TV movie that starred country/western/chicken guy?”
Both DiCarprio and Depp are getting very complacent. Both are not taking risks but doing re-make after re-make or re-boot after re-boot. Great Gatsby, Lone Ranger (maybe), Dark Shadows and now this. Wow, too bad.
Oh….joy….a remake…whoda thunk it.
What’s next…a remake of Stroker Ace?
More of the same……. Yawn. Is Leo going to scream and freak out in this?
Why did Charles Grodin not appear in BEETHOVEN 3? Did he get greedy? Ruined the franchise, I stopped at the second one – going to see them at the cinema. Never seen any of the other on home video/TV either.
Why don’t they remake all the Beethoven films from two, onward, with CHARLES GRODIN in?
I would pay good money to see those.
Case, agree. He’s attaching himself to garbage.
James Toback should be writing the script. He knows the world better than anyone.
What was wrong with the original? Have a feelign this is another Scorsese project that will never happen. I just don
t know why top direcotrs like Scorsese, Spielberg, etc, would want to waste their time remaking films when they have th epick of any project they can do.
Glad to see a remake of the Gambler, maybe this will get Kenny Rogers career back on track!. heee heee
The naysayers are blowing it. You got one of the greatest directors of all time, arguably one of the best contemporary actors, and one of the most talented writers collaborating on a project. I don’t care if they’re remaking Bambi, I’d still throw down cash to see it.