This past week marked the 20th anniversary of the release of Goodfellas, and to mark the occasion, GQ put together an awesome oral history of the film cobbled together from interviews with the stars, cast, and crew.  Being the good Italian that I am, I read the entire thing while grabbing my crotch and stirring the Sunday gravy.  My girlfriend tried to put too many onions in there, so I yelled “Wassa matta wit you!” and slapped her upside the head.

Anyway, I urge you to read the whole thing, but here are some highlights:

Madonna almost played Henry Hill’s wife.

Producer Irwin Winkler says “Tom Cruise was discussed” to play the lead (among others).

“Ray Liotta: All I heard was that the studio wanted somebody else—’What about this?’ ‘What about Eddie Murphy?’”

Read the rest of this entry »

Kudos to The Guardian this morning for my printing my new favorite headline: “Martin Scorsese denies predicting great things for Rupert Grint.”

The Sun reported that Scorsese had compared Grint to the young Leonardo DiCaprio, with whom Scorsese has regularly collaborated, and said there was no reason why Grint could not follow in his footsteps. He was also alleged to have expressed interest in making a film with Grint, particularly if he were to play a “badass”.

However, publicists for Scorsese, who is currently in London working on his new film, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, today issued the Guardian with a statement from the director saying that it was impossible he would have made such predictions.

“With respect to the Harry Potter films,” said the director, “regrettably I’ve never seen them and therefore I’m not able to discuss them or the performances in them in any way.”

Scorsese went on to ask, “Wait, which one is Rupert Grint again?  The ginger kid?  Yeah, that’s just gross.”  Then he spit on the ground and crossed himself.

[Oh, and here's the new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows poster, in case you're interested.]

Remember that Coen Brothers-Tarantino mashup from a while back?  You probably don’t.  Maybe you should cut down on the drinking.  In any case, Leandro Braga, the guy who made it, is back with this new Stanley Kubrick-Martin Scorsese mashup.  It includes 34 different films and reportedly took 25 days to complete.  It’s pretty badass, but starts it with “Shipping Up to Boston,” which is kind of cheating.  Anything seems badass with that song playing over it.  Dropkick Murphys should have more songs where that guy doesn’t sing.  He sounds like a hobo getting oatmeal shoved up his ass.  Oh hey, Nic Cage was in a Scorsese movie, remember that?

[Cage picture via NicCageasEveryone]

Dino, Sinatra, and Birthday Dog's great uncle, Geno P. Birthday Dog Sr.

Alternate Headline: OLD ITALIAN WANTS OLD ITALIANS TO PLAY DEAD ITALIANS.

Marty Scorsese has a lot of rumored projects on his plate, including The Irishman and a 3D adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, but while promoting Shutter Island in India recently, he dropped some bigger news.  Why, I read it, and den I get-a so happy, one-a mama’s a-meatballs squirt-a right inna my lap!   (*grabs crotch*)  Look, mama’s-a meatball, she land-a right-a here!  (*gesticulates wildly, smokes cigarettes*)

The conversation veers towards his plans to do a film on the life of Frank Sinatra. “I’ve had it in mind for a long time. Even the initial script is ready. I’m yet to spot the actor who can bring back Frank Sinatra alive on screen. My choice is Al Pacino, and Robert De Niro as Dean Martin.” [TheHindu]

Scorsese had previously said about the project:

“We can’t go through the greatest hits of Sinatra’s life. We tried this already. Just can’t do it. So the other way to go is to have three or four different Sinatras. Younger. Older. Middle-aged. Very old. You cut back and forth in time – and you do it through the music. See what I’m saying? So that’s what we’re trying for. It’s very tricky [laughs].” [ThePlaylist]

My favorite line in Anchorman is still “He wore suits so fine it made Frank Sinatra look like a hobo.”  Anyway, this project is still firmly in the “nothing concrete” stage, but I can’t imagine a studio not wanting to finance a Scorsese Sinatra biopic, nor can I imagine DeNiro or Scorsese turning down the chance to play Sinatra and Dean Martin.  Al Pacino playing Frank Sinatra would be for Italians what Al Pacino playing Tony Montana is for black dudes.   You can read about it and more in my upcoming book, Vaguely Racist SAT Analogies.

Martin Scorsese is 67 years old, but like this colonist on a Segway and my stepdad masturbating on Chat Roulette, he’s proving that you’re never too old to embrace new trends.  Variety confirms that Scorsese’s next film, an adaptation of the children’s book The Invention Of Hugo Cabret starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Special K Kingsley and set for release in December 2011, will be filmed in 3D.

Based on Brian Selznick’s bestselling children’s book, “Hugo Cabret” is set in 1930s Paris and centers on a 12-year-old orphan who must solve the mystery of a broken robot.

Well sure, why not.  That Scorsese would choose to film it in 3D isn’t surprising in light of recent comments he made that he could imagine anything in 3D, even Precious.

“We see in depth, for the most part. We go to the theater — it’s in depth. Why couldn’t a film like Precious be in 3-D? It should be … It just seems natural that we’d be going in that direction. It’s going to be something to look forward to, but to be used interestingly.” [AP via /film]

I heard they held an initial screening of Precious in 3D, but after an ugly incident in which a confused and hungry Gabourey Sidibe mistakenly tried to steal a bucket of chicken from herself, the rest of the 3D run was canceled.  …Whatever, you’re going to hell.