Early last year, word emerged on quite the collab: legendary auteur Martin Scorsese was set to tag-team with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on an epic crime film set in Hawaii. A natural home for the king of the New York mob movie, albeit with an exotic, Pina Colada-flavoured twist; for Johnson, it was an early signal for his indie movie gear shift that came with A24’s tragic biopic The Smashing Machine later in 2025, in which the wrestler-turned-hulking-action-hero proved that he didn’t need to hang off collapsing buildings to be a captivating screen presence. (The film had all of the cultural impact of a weak chest slap, but still, Johnson innocent. He even made us cry! Those of us who watched it, at least. Dozens of us.)
Add Emily Blunt and go-to Scorsese staple Leonardo DiCaprio to the mix, and you’ve got a treat of a cinematic cocktail on your hands. Nonetheless, we haven’t heard much about it in the time since; you’d forgive anyone for thinking this might be one of Scorsese’s many projects that never actually hit screens. That said, in October, Blunt delivered a brief update on the red carpet of The Smashing Machine, in which she also co-starred with Johnson, per The Hollywood Reporter (via Pajiba). “We’re developing it right now. It’s a really astonishing story,” she said, describing it as “the last great American mob story,” which sounds about as late-stage Scorsese as any movie premise comes. (All you need to add is a Rolling Stones needle drop.) “It’s a terribly exciting role for [Johnson] to kind of dig into. So, it’s being written. We’re working on it.”
The script is being penned by journalist and filmmaker Nick Bilton, who recently took over as the boss of the venerated American news show 60 Minutes. That big new gig might call into question whether the script will ever get done — but a recent report has it that it’s almost there, with notes in from Scorsese himself. An anonymous source told the entertainment blog Page Six that Bilton met with the director four months ago, and has spent the time since reworking the script to incorporate his ideas. “Marty wanted it to be more voice-over-y, more Goodfellas,” they said. “He’s 95% done.” They also dismissed rumours that the film is set to shoot in October, instead suggesting that it’ll be at least 2027 before it goes into production — or even later, depending on schedules.
And look, just to speculate, there’s a lot to juggle: Bilton’s obligations to 60 Minutes, Scorsese and DiCaprio are working on a different movie with Jennifer Lawrence (the Shutter Island-style horror What Happens at Night), and The Rock has his own projects on the boil, not to mention the 150 weekly hours spent nurturing his biceps at the gym. That said, if you believe the movie blogs, it’s looking pretty good for the crime flick, despite the relative quiet. The Rock has plenty of time to prove himself as a Serious Actor yet, and there’re few guys better suited to the job of directing him to an Oscar than Marty.
Besides which, the synopsis sounds killer: “In 1960s and ‘70s Hawaii, a formidable and charismatic mob boss rises to build the islands’ most powerful criminal empire, waging a brutal war against mainland corporations and rival syndicates while fighting to preserve his ancestral land,” it reads. It’s giving Goodfellas, sure. It’s also giving Killers of the Flower Moon. We can smell what Scorsese and The Rock are cooking — and it smells pretty damn good.
