A while back, I posted about Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese reteaming for the ninth time for Frankie Machine.
First, thanks to Dark Horizons for pointing this out:
Collider.com is reporting that they have it from a reliable source that Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese has dropped out of Frankie Machine. It gives no reason and suggests that the entire project may now be scrapped.
I have to say this sounds odd. Even if Scorsese were to drop out, De Niro (the star and producer) is a big enough name that it should be able to move forward with another director. I don’t normally peruse Collider, so I don’t know how credible they are. No offense to them, but I want to hear it from an established sourse.
I shall keep an eye out of more info on this. Hopefully we will get a confirmation, or get it shot down sometime in the near future.
Machine is based on Don Winslow’s The Winter of Frankie Machine. De Niro liked the manuscript so much, he bought the rights before the novel was published.
“Frank Machianno, aka Frankie Machine, retires from his life as a contract killer and begins a new life in San Diego. Far removed from any of the thrills of his mob life, he opens a bait shack on Ocean Beach Pier, runs three other legit businesses, and when nothing else demands his attention, puts his board in the water and rides the waves. Not a bad life for the 62-year-old Vietnam vet; at least most of the time it is quiet. Frankie’s life however returns to the tension, suspense and terror of the ‘old-days’ when the head of the Los Angeles syndicate calls in a marker, and asks him for backup during a meeting with members of the Detroit mob. The meeting is suppose to be an effort to resolve the current disputes between the two groups, but turns out to be a setup to end Frankie’s life.”
