We're going to be returning to the early days of Al Capone real soon when HBO debuts its hotly anticipated new series Boardwalk Empire. In the show, Stephen Graham plays a young Capone, though with a massive ensemble cast he's definitely not the main character. Hollywood is taking note, though, and it looks like they're taking the focus off modern gangsters and putting it back on the old timers from way back in the day (we're talking 1920s and 30s).
Following on the heels of TV's Boardwalk Empire, Warner Bros. has acquired a new script called Cicero, based on Al Capone's rise from a poor boy in Brooklyn to a top criminal in Chicago. Walon Green, who wrote the screenplay for the classic western The Wild Bunch, has written the screenplay for Cicero, which has already been compared to such gangster classics like James Cagney's The Public Enemy.
Question now is: Who do you get to play one of the most famous gangsters who ever lived? Obviously we'd need a bit of a younger actor to play Capone as an up-and-comer (assuming a majority of the film is spent during those times), but maybe someone who they can also age up to play Capone as he gets older and gains more power. James Gandolfini is someone who immediately comes to mind (partly because he looks like him, and partly because he plays a good gangster), but then I could also see them going for a younger, fresher face, like maybe Scott Caan, or even Vin Diesel (who surprisingly looks the most like Capone, though he'd have to gain a few pounds).
Who do you think would make for a great Al Capone?
