Universal has been planning to make a new version of ambitious criminal immigrant story Scarface for a few years, but it has been churning through writers, directors and potential actors without anything sticking. It would appear the producers are ready to go back to someone who at least took a crack at the script in the past, with Suicide Squad's David Ayer now in early talks to direct.
Ayer did some work on the screenplay back in 2011, but it has since been through the hands of several people, including Joel and Ethan Coen, who polished a draft by Jonathan Herman. Diego Luna is attached to play the main character, a Mexican chasing the American dream through any means necessary.
For a while, Antoine Fuqua was going to make the movie, but scheduling issues led him to drop out in January this year, around the time Luna was linked to the lead. Now Ayer is seriously considering taking a story that has previously been adapted in 1932 and, most famously in 1983. But even he has a lot on his plate: he's linked with Squad star Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn ensemble movie Gotham City Sirens and several other bubbling projects. The next movie of his to arrive will be with another veteran of his last; Will Smith stars in fantasy police thriller Bright, due on Netflix this December.