Mann Replaces Scorsese for Frankie Machine

Four months ago, it looked as though Don Winslow's aging hitman saga, The Winter of Frankie Machine, was going to be the (potentially) perfect coda to the Martin Scorsese/Robert De Niro mobster trio of Mean Streets, Goodfellas and Casino. Alas, it didn't work out.

But, in a semi-inversion of what went down with The Aviator, Michael Mann has now stepped in to replace Martin Scorsese (who was actually never signed in the first place). This is, I think, a more-than-acceptable trade-off.

Before you get too excited, I should note that Mann has only signed to develop Frankie Machine (as it's now being called). And while Brian Kopperman and David Levien seemed an ideal duo to adapt Winslow's tome, their draft is now getting what Variety's Michael Fleming terms a "major overhaul" by Alex Tse (who re-tooled David Hayter's script for Watchmen before getting re-re-tooled himself by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman).