We've heard for a while now that Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio would team to bring the real life story of Miami drug icons Jon Roberts and Mickey Munday to the silver screen, but that looks closer to happening with reports that director David O. Russell is considering directing the picture.
Russell, who directed Wahlberg in the acclaimed The Fighter, is said to be weighing his next project with the Roberts biopic among the projects he's interested in. The Wahlberg project is not associated in any way with Rakontur, which is working with HBO on completely separate series entitled Cocaine Cowboys based on the Miami studio's documentary.
The director is in high demand at the moment, and could be even hotter
if he picks up some hardware at this Sunday's Academy Awards, but we
would like to see what he can do with Miami's ode to the white stuff. We
already know that in the wrong hands even Miami's most dear franchise
can be ruined (see what Michael Mann, Jamie Foxx , and Colin Farrell did
to Miami Vice).
Director Peter Berg (Very Bad Things)
had been slotted to direct the movie, but fell out of favor
recently. Although Rakontur's Billy Corben clarifies that the Miami
studio is not involved in the Hollywood remake or Roberts' story, he
follows news of the picture with great interest.
Corben is a fan of
both Berg and Russell and is excited that the protagonist of Cocaine
Cowboys is having his story fictionalized. "It's pretty cool to see the
interest build in this universe we helped bring to everybody's
attention." Even so, he says he has another suggestion for a director.
"I would like to see (Miamian and Borscht Film Festival's) Lucas Leyva
direct," he joked. "That would be cool."
While all Miami, including Corben, waits to see Roberts' story remade by Hollywood, you shouldn't expect anything too quickly. Corben says the scripts for that film is still being written, with earlier versions presenting a fantastical version of real life. "(Earlier scripts) made Scarface look like a chamber piece," says Corben.
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