Cast system
Closing out Brian De Palma's birthday week (he turned 67 on the 11th) with the highest-profile of the blog-relevant projects: the prequel to his Oscar-winning*, Potemkin-borrowing 1987 The Untouchables. The movie was based on Eliot Ness' 1957 memoir-novel of his famously incorruptible unit's quest to take down Al Capone; two years later, it was a TV show starring Robert Stack.*Sean Connery for Supporting.
The Untouchables: Capone Rising will probably have its title changed before release (currently projected 2008). Thanks to the poor returns on 2007's Hannibal Rising, the word "rising" is not currently a viable origin-property-branded term. The plot deals with young Al Capone's dealings with young Jim Malone (the character played by Connery), Capone's rise to power, and Malone's rededication to the right side of the law.
David Mamet, who scripted the 1987 film, had no dealings with the prequel. Three writers have credits: Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and David Rabe. Rabe wrote the script for De Palma on Casualties of War. Koppelman and Levien are writing partners and no strangers to crime drama: Ocean's 13, Runaway Jury, Knockaround Guys, Rounders. They're also responsible for Belmont Boys, the upcoming Clooney-directed and Ocean's-similar (a group of thieves reunite to work on a heist) flick, as well as Frankie Machine, the upcoming Scorsese-directed mob flick starring Robert DeNiro as an ex-hitman going back to work. Apparently, it seemed he was out, but just when he came to think so, he was somehow pulled back in.
Nicolas Cage was confirmed in May to play Capone, but has since left the project. At 43, Cage might not be the best choice to play the "young" Capone; DeNiro was 44 when he played Alphonse in '87. Gerard Butler (37 years old) is cast as Malone. (If the age gap between Capone and Malone is consistent with the first film, Capone should be 24 or thereabouts.) Speculation remains rampant; early rumors of Colin Farrell and Sean Penn have yielded little. The questions remains: who will play a young Charles Martin Smith?
A 1993 TV show was spurred by the success of the film; it met with somewhat less success than its 1959 predecessor. It cast Tom Amandes as Ness and William Forsythe as Capone. Just three years earlier, Forsythe had played henchman to Al Pacino's Al Caprice, an analog of Al Capone, in Dick Tracy.
An additional henchman note: Billy Drago played Frank Nitti as a crazy assassin in '87; Anthony LaPaglia would handle the role in a more even-tempered treatment in Frank Nitti: The Enforcer, made for TV the following year and surely fast-tracked due to Nitti interest.
I also recall a fairly good Super Nintendo game.
