Danny Ramirez, best known for his roles in "The Top Gun: Maverick' and "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier", is stepping into one of the most infamous roles in cinema history.
Ramirez will star in a new Scarface movie, developed by his production company Pinstripes alongside longtime friend and collaborator Tom Culliver.
However, fans expecting a retread of Brian De Palma’s 1983 Al Pacino classic may want to adjust their expectations.
In a conversation with Deadline, Ramirez and Culliver say the upcoming movie will go back to the original 1930 novel by Armitage Trail.
Culliver explained: “We want to modernize it, adapting the original novel. Obviously, there’s the Pacino legacy of it from the ’80s and then the original 1932 movie, but I think it’s ripe for modernizing, and to have someone like Danny in the lead is really exciting.”
As for Ramirez, the project is personal. After years of playing supporting roles, he is looking to take on a meaty lead that lets him channel both his Colombian and Mexican heritage — and he believes Scarface can do just that.
“Scarface, to us, is the one that it’s been a dream role to play, but also to develop it in a way that I understand it," he said. "I think in 2025, it’s more relevant now than ever. So that’s where we’re excited to take this on.”
While Universal Pictures still controls the De Palma version, the original novel is in the public domain, allowing Ramirez and Culliver to craft a story outside of Hollywood’s studio system.
They have secured development financing and plan to keep the new version grounded in contemporary realities. Unlike many recent reboots, the pair insists they will not be chasing nostalgia.
“We’re not going to do this cravenly; we have something to say with the material,” Culliver noted. “There’s been too much of that in the last 20 years to just go around making remakes because you can latch onto some audience built into the IP. You’ve got to have a new story to tell within it.”
Ramirez pointed out that modernizing Scarface isn’t about cashing in on a recognizable brand, but highlights the stories Hollywood has historically sidelined.
“There’s a ton of stories, whether it’s Mexican-American to Latin American to Latino stories with people at the forefront who aren’t just supporting actors in somebody else’s story, but rather the protagonist,” he said. “Part of the game we’re having to approach head on is telling prestige films with stories that usually have been put to the side or haven’t been told because there’s no perceived return on the value of it.”
The project is still in early development.
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