Martin Scorsese directed the 2002 film Gangs of New York, an adaptation of Herbert Asbury’s 1927 non-fiction novel of the same name. Now, decades later, it’s been announced that Martin Scorsese is attached to both executive produce a new Gangs of New York TV series as well as direct the first two episodes.
As further revealed via Deadline, the potential series comes from Miramax Television with playwright and TV writer Brett Leonard penning the story. While details regarding this story are vague, Deadline suggests that “this is a new take on the story with new characters that were not featured in the movie, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz.”
This means the new television series could be a very interesting expansion of the world we saw in the 2002 film. The story appears to have been written in such a way that “Scorsese responded to Leonard’s script, which had been developed internally at Miramax TV, and came on board as an executive producer and director.” In addition, they noted that Leonard and Scorsese’s managers Rick York and Chris Donnelly have been attached as executive producers.
For those unfamiliar, “Asbury’s book details the confrontations between rival gangs in New York in the mid-to late-1800s, prior to the domination of the Italian-American Mafia during Prohibition in the 1920s.” This is certainly the perfect set up for a television series – and it was even a partial influence on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, which was executive produced by Scorsese as well. It’ll be interesting to see, then, how this new series could develop.
Fans can stay tuned to ScreenGeek for additional updates regarding this potential Gangs of New York television series as we have them. In the meantime, it’s great to see some talented names attached like Martin Scorsese and Brett Leonard. Hopefully we’ll have more details soon after the series enters the marketplace.