We’ve seen notorious gangster Al Capone brought to life on numerous occasions, most recently on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” (and to lesser effect by “The Walking Dead” co-star Jon Bernthal in A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN).
But the Chicago crime boss will be back on the screen to make life tough for rival Eliot Ness in the appropriately titled but sure-to-be-retitled NESS/CAPONE. Deadline says that Relativity could have V FOR VENDETTA director James McTeigue putting a spin on history, as he did with Edgar Allen Poe for the upcoming THE RAVEN.
In the script, which was on the 2010 Hollywood “Black List” of hot screenplays, “Ness is a skirt-chasing 26-year-old publicity hound who seemed to get an adrenaline charge out of courting danger, kicking in doors, smashing moonshine stores and rubbing it in the noses of Capone and other mobsters. He would parade confiscated bootleg trucks past Capone’s hotel, calling Capone in advance to suggest he look out the window.”
You might recall that Brian De Palma had previously planned a return to the violent mobster for the now-dead prequel THE UNTOUCHABLES: CAPONE RISING, which would’ve had Gerard Butler as a young Jimmy Malone facing Nic Cage as Capone. Can’t lie, that would have been interesting to see…
Also, David Fincher had once intended to tell a later Ness story with the murder mystery TORSO, based on the graphic novel. But that’s just one more in his bucket of unmade projects.
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