10 Reasons Why The Scarface Remake Shouldn't Happen

4. It Wouldn't Be Subversive Enough

During the premiere of De Palma's film, Martin Scorsese leaned across to supporting actor Steven Bauer and said: "You guys are great €“ but be prepared, because they're going to hate it in Hollywood... because it's about them." Both versions of Scarface have a subversive quality to them; they both parody the American Dream, they both show a foreign gangster beating Americans at their own game, and they both offer different ideas over how gangster stories are meant to be told. There's no way that the new Scarface could achieve this. Hollywood gangster films have become increasingly generic since the days of Goodfellas and Casino, and most modern offerings like Gangster Squad care more about the trappings than actually having something to say. Even in the hands of a quality director like Larrain, there's no guarantee that the film wouldn't reinforce our notions of what a gangster film is rather than challenging it.