Martin Scorsese to Direct Hawaii-Set Crime Thriller for 20th Century Studios

The film will star Leonardo DiCaprio, Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.

Martin Scorsese is set to direct a new Hawaii-set crime thriller for 20th Century Studios, starring Leonard DiCaprio, Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.

What’s Happening:

  • The Hollywood Reporter shared the news of this big get for Disney’s 20th Century Studios, which will be a fact-based movie in the mold of Scorsese’s Goodfellas and The Departed.
  • The film has a script by journalist and author Nick Bilton, and will center on a mob boss vying for control of the Hawaiian islands in the 1960s and 1970s.
  • The untitled story tells of a formidable and charismatic mob boss who rises to build the islands’ most powerful criminal empire, waging a brutal war against mainland corporations and rival syndicates while fighting to preserve his ancestral land. His ruthless quest for absolute power ignited the last great American mob saga, where the war for cultural survival takes place in the unlikeliest of places: paradise.
  • The origin of the project reportedly comes from the “ohana-like bond" between Blunt and Johnson," with the concept and film idea actually originating from Blunt.
  • Johnson is also co-authoring a book with Bilton on the subject.
  • Scorsese, DiCaprio, Blunt and Johnson will all be producers on the project through their respective production companies.
  • The news comes as Johnson’s Seven Bucks production company signed a first look deal with Disney last year to develop films for theatrical and streaming.

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