page_title: Scarface (1983 film)
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Scarface (1983 film) / Production / Development
caption_attribution_description: Oliver Stone
context_page_description: Scarface is a 1983 American crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is a remake of the 1932 film and tells the story of Cuban refugee Tony Montana who arrives in 1980s Miami with nothing and rises to become a powerful drug lord. The cast also features Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Robert Loggia.
  Pacino became interested in a remake of the 1932 version after seeing it, and he and producer Martin Bregman began to develop it. Sidney Lumet was initially hired to direct the film but was replaced by De Palma, who hired Stone to write the script. Filming took place from November 1982 to May 1983. The film was shot mostly in Los Angeles. The film's soundtrack was composed by Giorgio Moroder. De Palma dedicated this version of Scarface to the writers of the original, Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht.
  Scarface premiered in New York City on December 1, 1983, and was released on December 9, 1983. The film grossed $45 million at the domestic box office and $66 million worldwide.
context_section_description: Scarface began development after Al Pacino saw the 1932 film of the same name at the Tiffany Theater while in Los Angeles. He later called his manager, producer Martin Bregman, and informed him of his belief in the potential for a remake of that film. Pacino originally wanted to retain the period piece aspect, but realized that because of its melodramatic nature it would be difficult to accomplish. Sidney Lumet became attached as the director, developing the idea for Montana to be Cuban arriving in America during the Mariel boatlift.
  Bregman and Lumet's creative differences saw Lumet drop out of the project. Lumet had wanted to make a more political story that focused on blaming the current Presidential administration for the influx of cocaine into the United States, yet Bregman disagreed. Bregman replaced him with Brian De Palma, and hired writer Oliver Stone; Stone had seen the original 1932 Scarface and had not enjoyed it, so he initially rejected the offer. Only after he talked to Lumet was he convinced to accept the offer since they agreed on transforming the film from a period piece to a contemporary film, saying, "Sidney had a great idea to take the 1930s American prohibition gangster movie and make it into a modern immigrant gangster movie dealing with the same problems that we had then, that we're prohibiting drugs instead of alcohol. There's a prohibition against drugs that's created the same criminal class as (prohibition of alcohol) created the Mafia." In the book The Oliver Stone Experience, Stone stated, "I didn't want to do an Italian Mafia movie ... We'd had dozens of these things. But then Bregman came back to me and said, Sidney has a great idea — he wants to do it as a Marielito picture in Miami. I said, That's interesting! Sidney's idea was a good one."
  Stone researched the script while battling his own cocaine addiction. He and Bregman performed their own research, traveling to Miami, Florida, where they were given access to records from the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Organized Crime Bureau. Stone moved to Paris to write the script, believing he could not break his addiction while in the United States, stating in a 2003 interview that he was completely off drugs at the time "because I don't think cocaine helps writing. It's very destructive to the brain cells."
caption: Oliver Stone wrote the script for Scarface while struggling with his own addiction to cocaine
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