Drug lords and lawyers: Oliver Stone's Scarface encounter
Acclaimed screen writer and director Oliver Stone got more than he bargained for when he decided to research real-life drug lords to help add colour to his script for his 1983 update of 1932 mobster movie Scarface.
Al Pacino in Scarface ... he was excited about a remake after seeing the 1932 version of the film starring Paul Muni.
"Oliver, y'ever seen Scarface with Paul Muni?" producer Marty Bregman asked. "Al [Pacino] saw it the other night – and thinks it's sensational! He thinks he can do it. And you know how impossible he can be ... this one's for him. All we need's a screenplay ..."
I met director Sidney Lumet, in New York, who made it clear to me that what he was looking for in the film was its contemporary realism, its immigration and drug war issues, and its politics, reaching up into the higher levels of our government.
