No Rest For The Winners

Hot off of their Oscar wins on Sunday night, best director, Martin Scorsese and best adapted screenplay writer William Monahan had such a good time working on The Departed---they are going to do it again.

Variety's Michael Fleming and Pamela McClintock:

Paramount Pictures is tuning up "The Long Play," a rock 'n' roll epic that will be developed as a directing vehicle for Martin Scorsese. William Monahan is set to rewrite the script, re-teaming the dual Oscar winners from "The Departed."

Par has also put Scorsese back in business with Mick Jagger and his Jagged Films partner Victoria Pearman, who'll produce "The Long Play" with Scorsese.

Scorsese directed Jagger and his Rolling Stones bandmates in a feature documentary shot last fall at the Beacon Theater. Paramount is planning a fall release for the docu, which Pearman produced with Steve Bing...

"The Long Play" follows two friends through 40 years in the music business, from the early days of R&B to contemporary hip-hop.

Jagged originated the project at Disney based on Jagger's idea. Scorsese sparked to it, and they brought in Rich Cohen, a Rolling Stones mag writer who did exhaustive research and wrote several drafts. Matthew Weiss also wrote drafts.

The project didn't fit Disney's family-film mode. Paramount, which just made a first-look deal with Scorsese to direct and produce pics, has completed a turnaround deal and set Monahan to write the script. "The Long Play" becomes the second deal Paramount has made for Scorsese, after Par and Misher Films optioned the Eric Jager book "Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal and Trial by Combat in Medieval France."

While Scorsese and Monahan have discussed continuing the storyline of best picture winner "The Departed," Monahan will pen "The Long Play" as his next assignment.

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In a related story on Dark Horizons, via The Hollywood Reporter, fellow Departed collaborators Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon are also slated to work with Monahan again soon.

Monahan... is re-teaming with Leonardo DiCaprio and Vertigo Entertainment for Hong Kong thriller remake "Confessions of Pain" for Warner Bros. Pictures.

The Hollywood Reporter indicates that "Pain" follows two close friends, one a police detective and the other a private detective, who team to investigate the murder of the cop's father-in-law. As the investigation proceeds, they uncover evidence that shows that nothing is as it appears.

The original released last year was created by the team behind "Infernal Affairs" which "The Departed" was based on. "Pain" is being developed as a starring vehicle for DiCaprio who will also produce...

Monahan recently completed the script "Penetration" for Ridley Scott to direct, and his "Marco Polo" script is being developed as a star vehicle for Matt Damon.

Boy, Monahan is one busy writer these days, isn't he? Of all of these projects, I can't help but be drawn to the crime drama "Confessions", more than any of those others--due its subject matter. It will be interesting to see which moves along the cinema pipeline the fastest...