Martin Scorsese is Part of the Team Adapting ‘Gangs of New York’ for TV
Scorsese, who directed the 2002 movie, will produce and direct the first two episodes of the series.
Daniel Day-Lewis as William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting in director Martin Scorsese's 'Gangs of New York.'
Sooner or later, it seems that every classic movie will one day become a TV series. But not many of them can boast the director of the Oscar-nominated original film, nor someone with the clout and kudos of Martin Scorsese.
The new TV adaptation of ‘Gangs of New York’, however, has both.
You’re likely aware of Scorsese’s 2002 gangster movie, which boasted the star power of Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Day-Lewis and adapted Herbert Asbury’s 1927 non-fiction book ‘The Gangs of New York’.
‘Gangs’ cinematic story (adapted by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian and Kenneth Lonergan) was set in a god-forsaken district of early-1860s Lower Manhattan known as the Five Points.
The vicious Nativist, Bill “The Butcher” Cutting (Day-Lewis) is the supreme overlord of an area riddled with crime, prostitution, theft and murder, as the American Civil War still rages on.
Sixteen years after the brutal murder of his father at Bill’s blood-stained hands, an orphaned Irish American, Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio), returns to this melting pot of corruption to avenge his untimely death; yet a lot has changed since then.
Who can remember the once-innocent boy and now a young man bent on revenge, who works his way up to the hierarchy of Five Points? Will Amsterdam ever taste the dangerous but sweet fruit of retribution?
(L to R) Leonardo DiCaprio as Amsterdam Vallon, and Daniel Day-Lewis as William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting in director Martin Scorsese's 'Gangs of New York.'
Not wanting to repeat what has already been brought to the screen (to the tune of nearly $200 million worldwide at the box office and 10 Oscar nominations), the plan from Miramax TV, according to Deadline, is to focus on characters who didn’t appear in the movie.
Playwright and TV writer Brett Leonard, who most recently was on the staff of the Apple TV+ drama ‘Shantaram’ (which stars Charlie Hunnam) is overseeing the new show, while Scorsese will be an executive producer and bring his considerable experience to directing the first two episodes and therefore setting the visual tone for the show.
This is not the first time that ‘Gangs’ has been the target of a proposed TV version, nor the first time Scorsese has been involved.
In 2013, Miramax and GK Films started development on a series which would likewise deviate from the film’s focus, instead spreading the story to other cities, including Chicago and New Orleans and chronicle the birth of organized crime in America.
“This time and era of America’s history and heritage is rich with characters and stories that we could not fully explore in a two-hour film,” Scorsese said at the time of that original announcement. “A television series allows us the time and creative freedom to bring this colorful world, and all the implications it had and still does on our society, to life.”
The show as of yet doesn’t have a broadcast or streaming home, but you can imagine that HBO would certainly be interested given the success of ‘Boardwalk Empire,' it's last collaboration with the director that featured mobsters.
Director Martin Scorsese at the Academy Awards.
