Martin Scorsese Onboard (Again) For Frank Sinatra Biopic

Maybe it's a new annual tradition: Just before the anniversary of Frank Sinatra's death on May 14, 1998, the legend's family blasts the trades with news that Martin Scorsese will direct the troubled, long-gestating, untitled Sinatra biopic. Or maybe it's just coincidence that today -- right on cue a year after Tina Sinatra last blurted out the director's attachment -- the impossible Scorsese/Sinatra dream is back on the front page.

At least this time it has a studio (Universal), producers (Peter Guber and Cathy Schulman) and a screenwriter (Phil Alden Robinson) to aid liftoff. It also has life rights and music rights, thanks to years of negotiations involving Tina Sinatra herself. She'll executive produce the project, rumored to deal primarily with the Chairman's younger, slightly nicer days, i.e. pre-Oscar, Ava Gardner, Frank Jr.'s kidnapping, and, most importantly, his ties to organized crime. That approach still won't necessarily please Tina's sister Nancy, who's long dismissed the idea of any movie that wasn't a "very, very precise" documentary and for whom Scorsese's Italian-American creds apparently stop at GoodFellas.

Perhaps naturally, the announcement ignited speculation about Leonardo DiCaprio's casting as young-ish Sinatra. One of Nikki Finke's commenters flatly states with "100% authority that Scorcese [sic] won't make it without him," but come on. It's Frank Sinatra. DiCaprio couldn't even pull off Frank Wheeler. Alternatives, anyone?

· OH, FRANKIE! Universal, Peter Guber And Marty Scorsese Making Sinatra Film [DHD]