Nic Cage to Play Al Capone in 'Untouchables' Prequel, Source Says
Filed under: Drama, Casting, RumorMonger, Fandom, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
I don't even know where to begin with this one -- I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Nicolas Cage is going to play legendary gangster Al Capone, let alone the fact that he will do so in a prequel to the very awesome Brian De Palma-directed flick The Untouchables. That's right, MTV (and their hot new blog) have confirmed (via Cage's reps) that the actor has officially signed on to star in Capone Rising (horrific working title, by the way). This new film, which will also be helmed by De Palma (based on his recent work, that doesn't make me feel a whole lot better), is an official prequel to the 1987 film that starred Robert De Niro (as Capone), Kevin Costner (as the gutsy Eliot Ness) and Sean Connery (as Ness' partner-in-crime Jim Malone).
Pic, which was written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Rounders, Knockaround Guys, Ocean's Thirteen) will reportedly revolve around Capone's early dealings with corrupt cop Jim Malone (who would make a good young Connery?). However, once he's exposed to Capone's violent behavior, Malone vows to turn his life around and, well, we kind of know what happens after that. Personally, I wasn't so hot on this project to begin with; the original is one of those classics that shouldn't be touched, regardless of whether the same director is handling it. And Nic Cage? As Al Capone? That's just wrong. I'm already cringing at the thought of watching Cage's spastic twitching throughout the film as he tries to give his men orders. I asked Cinematical's own Scott Weinberg what he thought of the casting news, to which he replied: "Nicolas Cage playing Al Capone is like William H. Macy playing Hellboy." Yeah, I think we'll leave it at that. Now it's your turn ...
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-11-2007 @ 5:50PM
LordPaul said...
I don't remember Al Capone being played by an Elvis impersonator before - is it a comedy?
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5-11-2007 @ 6:20PM
spareribs said...
Since when was a 'young' Al Capone a 43 year old man. WTF?
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5-11-2007 @ 7:32PM
Gilbert Davis said...
Nicolas Cage was pretty good at playing evil and menacing in Kiss of Death. He's acted in over 50 movies and played a wide variety of characters and played many of them well. He's been willing to take many chances as an actor and I respect that. I don't think it's a question of him being able to give a good performance in this role because he can do it. How well it shows up depends on the script, the other actors, the director and all of that. Same as always.
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