DeNiro’s Machine runs

Let’s say you’re Robert DeNiro. You have a gangster movie you really want to make (because honestly, you don’t want to do another goddamn FOCKERS sequel). Your longtime collaborator Martin Scorsese isn’t available. Do you settle for the guy who directed you in HEAT?

Damn straight you do. And so Michael Mann will direct the crime thriller FRANKIE MACHINE, DeNiro’s on-again-off-again adaptation of Don Winslow’s novel. The original plan was for Scorsese to reunite with his mobster colleague, but he likely couldn’t find a slot on his increasingly crowded schedule. Fortunately for Bobby D. (and the rest of us), Mann is a perfectly acceptable replacement.

The story involves the title’s retired mob hitman who gets drawn back into the bad business and finds past crimes catching up to him. OCEAN’S 13 writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien were the last guys to take a crack at the script. It’s unknown if Mann will fire up the MACHINE or build Will Smith’s EMPIRE for his next project.