By So, as you know, Martin Scorsese is a Hollywood director. He’s directed films such as Raging Bull, Casino, Goodfellas, The Departed and, more recently, Shutter Island. The Departed is an interesting case because it was a remake of a Korean film called Internal Affairs, and it turned out to be an even better film (some would say Scorsese’s best… like me, for instance).
Now he’s set to direct a remake of the 1974 film, The Gambler with James Caan. I’ve never even heard of this movie, which makes it perfectly good remake fodder, in my opinion. The synopsis of the film is about “a successful English professor who succumbs to a gambling addition, which forces him to extort money from this mother and convince one of his students to shave points in a basketball game.”
Set to replace Caan is Leonardo DiCaprio… and I don’t know where he’s been all my life, but DiCaprio’s all kinds of awesome these days. Sure, he was that annoying kid in Titanic that you wanted to hate (but couldn’t given his rambunctious spirit) and sure, he was that bastard child in Growing Pains… but he’s certainly redeemed himself in terms of sheer badassery in the last decade or so, taking roles in such films as The Departed, Blood Diamond, The Aviator, Inception and Shutter Island. It would seem that Scorsese’s got a bit of a man-crush on DiCaprio… and I can’t say I blame him.
[Via IndieWire]