Martin ScorceseAdd another remake to the list!  Rumor has it that Paramount is developing a remake of the 1974 drama The Gambler. Deadline is reporting that the product is possibly to be directed by Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island) and a screenplay written by William Monahan (The Departed). The starring role is said to go to an actor both have worked with well, Leonardo DiCaprio (Inception).

The original film, directed by Karel Reisz (Everybody Wins), starred James Caan (Detachment) as an intellectual with an increasing gambling addiction that leads him into dark places. It will be interesting to see what DiCaprio can do with such a role, given his broad, raw talent, where he slowly loses control and slips into a seedy world.

But while some are busy planning the movie, one person is not happy at all: James Toback (Tyson). Toback wrote the original Gambler as an autobiography. What has him upset is that no one, not the original studio (Paramount), nor the original producers Irwin Winkler and Bob Chartoff, informed him that there was a remake of his most personal film in the works.

Pre-production of The Gambler might not happen for awhile, as Scorsese has several films in the works, but I’d bet good money that we’ll hear something soon.