‘Scarface’ Will Return to Theaters With Footage From Controversial Tribeca Film Festival Q&A
“Scarface” was released 35 years ago this December, but its early anniversary celebration hit a memorable snag at last month’s Tribeca Film Festival. During a post-screening Q&A with the cast and director Brian De Palma, moderator Jesse Kornbluth elicited jeers for asking Michelle Pfeiffer what she weighed when stepping into the role of cocaine addict Elvira Hancock, a question he later defended as “a comment on the knee-jerk political correctness of our time.” Nonetheless, on Monday, Universal Pictures, Screenvision Media, and the festival announced that the crime drama will be re-released for three days this June, and audiences nationwide will be shown said Q&A following the credits.
“The Tribeca Film Festival talk was an important commemoration of the film,” said Screenvision Media’s executive vice president of operations and exhibitor relations, Darryl Schaffer, in a statement. “We’re excited to extend it to the big screen and provide fans a behind-the-scenes insight into what production was like in the 1980s.”
However, viewers will likely not see Kornbluth’s criticized query: Tribeca Film Festival’s executive vice president of communications and programming Tammie Rosen told IndieWire that the approximately 35-minute discussion will be edited down to a half hour, on account of the almost-three-hour “Scarface” runtime. “Billions” creator and showrunner Brian Koppelman was originally scheduled to moderate the panel, but he claimed on Twitter that De Palma had him replaced.
The violent and iconic film — a recent addition to Netflix’s catalogue, centered on a Cuban refugee–turned–Miami drug lord (Al Pacino) — earned three Golden Globe nominations, plus a worst director Razzie nod. Universal began working on a remake in 2011; in February 2017, Variety reported that the Coen Brothers were doing a pass on the script, set to star Diego Luna (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”). Several well-known directors have been linked to the project, including Antoine Fuqua, Pablo Larrain, David Yates, and David Ayer, who dropped out in July.
“Scarface” returns to 200 theaters on June 10, 11, and 13; get tickets here.
Additional reporting by Kate Erbland and Jamie Righetti.
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