We had reported earlier that acclaimed Hollywood filmmaker Martin Scorsese will explore a familiar genre but a hitherto uncharted territory in his next film, which has Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, and Leonardo DiCaprio attached to star.
The film has been picked up by Disney's 20th Century, according to entertainment outlet, Deadline.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, the former WWE veteran-turned-actor, recently confirmed his involvement in the film, which also has Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt attached.
While Scorsese will return to the gangster genre that's so familiar to him — with critic-friendly classics like Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Departed and The Irishman — the idea of a crime syndicate in Hawaii is fresh territory for not only the Raging Bull director but also audiences.
British author and journalist Nick Bilton is behind the idea. Bilton's subject is centred on the activity of the Hawaiian underworld in the 1960s and 70s.
Johnson's character is reportedly based on Hawaiian mob boss Wilford “Nappy” Pulawa, who was active in the 1970s. He was known for leading 'The Company', the largest organised crime syndicate on the Hawaiian Islands. In an old newspaper report in The Advertiser, Pulawa was described as a man who saw himself as "omnipotent" and "untouchable".
Pulawa was known for being a formidable and charismatic mob boss who was accused of multiple crimes including extortion and murder. Johnson's character in the film is described as someone who "rises to build the islands’ most powerful criminal empire, waging a brutal war against mainland corporations and rival syndicates while fighting to preserve his ancestral land."
Scorsese, Johnson, Blunt, DiCaprio, and Bilton will also serve as producers alongside Dany Garcia, Lisa Frechette and Rick Yorn.
The project marks Johnson's first collaboration with Scorsese and DiCaprio's seventh with the legendary director after Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Killers of the Flower Moon.
