This would hardly be the first time Martin Scorsese has moved toward a project he ultimately backs out of, but considering the contractual circumstances of its unveiling — and his recent dedication to projects: The Wolf of Wall Street and Silence took years (even decades) to create, and The Irishman is reportedly still coming — this one might have a good shot. Paramount have (no doubt proudly) announced themselves as the helmer’s home through 2019, and coupled with this is news that they’ll back, in addition to Silence, the newly developing Devil in the White City, and the aforementioned The Irishman, a biopic based on the life of composer Leonard Bernstein.
Yes, it’s among “a number of films” they’d like to have Scorsese shepherding, but the fact that it’s a) the only one yet announced and b) the only one with a screenwriter (Spotlight co-scribe Josh Singer) should I think, be taken as a signal that things are actively happening on this front. Whatever it might focus on — his film-composing work would undoubtedly crop up, especially with one of the director’s heroes, Elia Kazan, being a collaborator in On the Waterfront — the prospect of another Scorsese biopic, following Hugo and Wolf, is good news all the same.