Ol’ Blue Eyes in the hands of Martin Scorsese?
It may yet happen.
A new report from Variety revives talk of a Frank Sinatra biopic from the vaunted director.
The outlet says Scorsese, 81, is still planning on pursuing the Sinatra movie with frequent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role.
DiCaprio, who won an Oscar for Alejandro Iñárritu’s “The Revenant” in 2016, has starred in six of Scorsese’s feature films.
The first was “Gangs of New York” in 2002 and the most recent was last year’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
According to the report, Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence (for “Silver Linings Playbook”) would play actor Ava Gardner, Sinatra’s second wife.
Lawrence co-starred with DiCaprio in the 2021 Netflix film “Don’t Look Up.”
Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner cutting their wedding cake in 1951.Bettmann Archive
However, Scorsese reportedly hasn’t gotten the blessing of Sinatra’s daughter Tina Sinatra, 75, who controls the singer’s estate.
That could prevent DiCaprio, 49, from stepping into the role of the beloved crooner and actor from Hoboken.
Sinatra was in his 30s when he divorced Nancy Barbato Sinatra, the mother of his three children, and married Gardner.
Gardner filed for divorce from Sinatra in 1954.
Scorsese has been linked with talk of a Sinatra biopic since 2009.
In 2012, Deadline reported that Scorsese’s Sinatra project was attached to Universal Pictures and screenwriter Billy Ray (”Captain Phillips,” “Richard Jewell”), with Tina Sinatra as a producer.
Later, writer Michael Chabon wrote a script for the film.
In 2017, Scorsese told the Toronto Sun the Sinatra family had put a stop to his planned film with DiCaprio.
Frank Sinatra and his daughter Tina Sinatra in 1969.Ron Galella | Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
“I think it is finally over,” he said. “They won’t agree to it. Open it up again and I’m there!”
At the time, Scorsese said the family took issue with the script, which covered dark parts of his life.
“Certain things are very difficult for a family, and I totally understand,” he said. “But, if they expect me to be doing it, they can’t hold back certain things. The problem is that the man was so complex. Everybody is so complex — but Sinatra in particular.”
Chabon consulted Tina Sinatra’s 2000 Frank Sinatra memoir “My Father’s Daughter” before working on the script. He lamented the loss of the film project in 2016.
“It would’ve been so cool,” he told Vulture. “Scorsese was going to direct it, and I wrote the script.”
The Variety report says Scorsese plans to work on the Sinatra film after “Life of Jesus,” based on the 1973 book by Shūsaku Endō. (Endō also wrote the 1966 novel “Silence,” which Scorsese adapted for film in 2016.)
Stories by Amy Kuperinsky
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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup.