Martin Scorses will direct the life story of Frank Sinatra on film.
Mandalay Pictures and Universal Pictures said last Wednesday, May 13, 2009, that Scorses, the Academy Award-winning director of the film “The Departed,” is going to direct “Sinatra.” This will be the first feature film of the life of Ol’ Blue Eyes.
Cathy Shulman, Mandalay Pictures President and who is also co-producing the film with Peter Guber, the Mandalay Chairman, said that the film will be “an unconventional biopic.”
Shulman said that, “It’s not a cradle-to-the-grave traditional portrait of the consecutive events in a man’s life. Instead it’s more of a collage and, in many ways, it will feel like an album itself. It’s a collection of various moments and impressions in his life and together we hope they’ll tell the full story and present full themes.”
Schulam also said that Phil Alden Robinson, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter for his “Filed of Dreams,” has spent “at least a year buried in 30,000 pages of research” just to write the screenplay.
No production date has been determined yet and the casting decisions have not been made, Schulam said, adding that: “It’s everyone’s hope that this will be a movie that comes to the screen shortly.”
She also said that it took them two years just to secure the rights on the music and life of Sinatra. The Sinatra estate and Warner Music Group joined together for the project. She said that bringing “Sinatra” to the screen under the direction of Scorsese is “seems like a match made in heaven.”
“In any family, you’re dealing with a precious life, and in this case, you’re dealing with an extraordinary life,” Schulam said. “We knew Scorsese would lead the troops to a true, fair, exciting and entertaining portrait of the man.”
Tina, the daughter of Frank Sinatra, said that it was “personally pleasing” to know that Scorsese will oversee the celluloid version of the life of her father.
Tina said adding, “My father had great admiration for the talent of the people he chose to work with, and the talented people who worked with my father had great admiration for him, to me that this paradigm continues with Marty Scorsese at the helm of the Sinatra film.”
Sinatra is an iconic entertainer recognized for his smooth voice and smooth personal style. Sinatra was part of the Rat Pack which includes Peter Lawford, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
The Rolling Stone magazine said on its website that Sinatra “was indisputably the 20th century’s greatest singer of popular song.” It further stated that “Not only did his freely interpretive approach pave the way for the idiosyncrasies of rock singing, but with his character a mix of tough-guy cool and romantic vulnerability, he became the first true pop idol, a superstar who through his music established a persona audiences found compelling and true.”
Before his death in 1998, Sinatra has performed over 1,400 musical recordings, earned 10 Grammys and was awarded with 31 gold records. Sinatra also made a cameo in 58 films and has won a supporting actor Oscar for “From Here to Eternity” in 1953. Sinatra was presented with another Oscar: the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1971.
The story of Sinatra has been told previously on the small screen in 1992. It’s a made-for-TV movie entitled “Sinatra,” which starred Philip Casnoff playing the title role. The movie has won an Emmy for its director, James Sadwith and a Golden Globe for bet miniseries. In the 1998 HBO film entitled “The Rat Pack,” Ray Liotta played the role of Sinatra.
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