Tony Scott Will Next Direct Potsdamer Platz, With Bardem, Statham And Rourke

Tony Scott has many, many projects on his plate. Almost a year ago we ran down many of them: his Hells Angels picture, Potsdamer Platz, an LA-set remake of The Warriors, Emma's War and Unstoppable, for starters. Unstoppable is in post-production now, with a release scheduled for November, so it's time for Scott to sort out his next project. Now it seems that Potsdamer Platz will be that next film.Deadline reports that the director has three actors in line: Javier Bardem, Jason Statham and Mickey Rourke. The latter has been attached for some time; Scott told ComingSoon last summer that he might be in the cast. ("I've got a great cast with Mickey... now all of a sudden the film became bankable because Mickey was always his own man before last year.")

Scott was reportedly after Gene Hackman to join the cast, but couldn't land the actor, who now doesn't seem to have much interest in features.

Deadline says the picture will be retitled, but that's not new info; Scott also said that last summer. Buddy Giovinazzo originally wrote the script, but by last year it had been rewritten by the Sexy Beast team of David Scinto and Louis Mellis. Those two have now split as writing partners, and it seems like further changes are coming down, along with the new title, so I'm curious to hear who gets the rewrite gig.

Last summer, the picture was said by Scott to be " based on a true story of the Jersey mob and when they tried to take over the construction business in Germany," but Scott said there was a plan to make it contemporary. Deadline reports the location will be changed to Puerto Rico. That would necessitate the title change (Potsdamer Platz being a Berlin landmark) and considerably remove the story from the original inspiration. Scott's production company picked up the original draft of this script ten years ago, and it has been percolating ever since, so he's certainly had time to consider an approach to the film.

No studio has this now, but it could well end up being a Fox picture.