Sinatra's Daughter Hopes Scorsese Skips Frank's Seedier Side
Filed under: RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy
Ever since Martin Scorsese revealed, back in May, that he was going to direct a Frank Sinatra biopic, there has been rampant speculation about two things: who will play the crooner, and what sort of man will Scorsese make him out to be? The former question has yet to be answered, and probably won't be until for several months. The latter question remains open, but Sinatra's daughter, Tina, has a few things to say about it. According to the New York Post's gossip page, Tina Sinatra is "worried that Scorsese's vision might ultimately taint her father's legacy" -- in other words, Frank's Mafia connections, philandering, heavy drinking, and violent tendencies didn't taint his legacy, but telling people about it might. The Post cites an anonymous inside source, not Sinatra herself, so take it with a grain of salt. Scorsese's people told the Post that the director is swamped with Shutter Island (in theaters Oct. 2) and his upcoming HBO project Boardwalk Empire and hasn't even begun to think about the Sinatra film yet. We do know that Phil Alden Robinson, who wrote (and directed) Field of Dreams, is onboard as screenwriter, but at this point it's not even clear whether the film intends to cover Sinatra's entire life or just a certain segment of it.
But Tina Sinatra's concerns, whatever they may be, aren't easily dismissed. The film is only being made with the family's cooperation, and Sinatra herself is an executive producer. If she really does want Scorsese to tone down the negative aspects of her father's career, Scorsese will have to listen, at least to some extent. On the other hand, only a fool would collaborate with Martin Scorsese and expect a rosy, happy-go-lucky film to be the result, and Tina Sinatra is surely no fool. Hopefully she'll let Scorsese -- who's a huge Sinatra fan, it should be noted -- do his thing.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-18-2009 @ 9:17PM
Scott said...
Needless to say, a Sinatra film without at least the philandering, drinking, and violence would strip the Sinatra of some of the flaws essential to him as a character in a film. Whether they use the Mafia stuff...guess it just depends on what aspect of his life they want to focus on.
Mostly, every time a story about Scorsese's Sinatra film comes up, I get worried Scorsese will end up doing this instead of SILENCE. I'm a sucker, so I'll see anything Scorsese does, but it's been awhile since he's done anything as vital as SILENCE sounds like it would be.
That said, everything points to it being next up for him, so...let's hope it stays that way.
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8-19-2009 @ 1:14AM
CParis said...
Tina Sinatra is deluded. Everybody over age 35 knows about Frank Sinatra's philandering, Mafia connections, violent temper, etc. There have been numerous TV biopics since his death that already revealed all of this info.
As for the under 35, they can use The Google and get all of the gossip about Sinatra.
8-19-2009 @ 1:58AM
Nick Holmes said...
I love Frank Sinatra as an artist - but what makes him fascinating as a character, as well as what makes him a legend, is his personality and behavior as a person. They would be remiss to overestimate negative backlash. People who enjoy Sinatra's music and appreciate his contributions to the world will continue to do so - and those who are yet unfamiliar with him will forgive anything once they hear him sing.
I read Tina's book - she knows what her father was/stands for.
I hope it's a great flm.
Nick Holmes
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8-19-2009 @ 7:36PM
david baker said...
It won't happen unless scorsesse has certain level of freedom. Frank did it "His Way", so will Scorsesse.
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8-22-2009 @ 1:11PM
rexb said...
I think the darker side of Frank, rumors and all, has been explored extensively, it's time to show some of the nicer things Frank did for folks. The general public has not been exposed to all the decent things he did despite the more volatile nature of his character. The book "Sessions by Sinatra" by Granata, has so much good material in it that would make a great movie. Things like the fact that Frank would remember some obscure band member's name years down the road and then joke that it was great he remembered Frank after all these years. He also had quite a penchant for classical music and was well versed in even very little known foreign composers. He went out of his way to find qualified black musicians back when integration was only in it's infancy. Frank was also so focused on his work that he would sometimes churn out 4 albums a year. Another notable story, one time he invited all the musicians over to his house and waited on them hand and foot; until his Hollywood chums eventually went home because he was too busy tending to the band members. He once was also over at a bandmember's home and they were experiencing trouble getting their kids to fall asleep, so he sung them to sleep. When Frank founded Reprise Records, he let musicians focus on their own artistic leanings and not the bottom line of what would sell records. I could go on and on, sure Sinatra had his roughness but he could be a nice guy when he tried, again, it would be nice to see a few of the lesser known humanitarian things he did for people on the big screen.
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