American Gangster Movie Trailer

[Dinah Lianes]

Onewould think that if a director as big as Ridley Scott made a movie with actors like Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Josh Brolin, it would have had more of a lasting impact on the collective psyche of the moviegoing public. But it's been 10 years since American Gangster came out, and it's been just about that long since I've seen or heard anyone mention it. It's not a super memorable film, but that isn't stopping a successful TV creator from writing an American Gangster prequel series with Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) attached to play a real-life gangster.

American Gangster told the story of Frank Lucas (Washington), a Harlem criminal who, in 1968, smuggled heroin into New York via Vietnam servicemen returning home from the war. He quickly becomes successful enough to build an empire, expanding his reach to other areas of business and attracting the attention of a task force led by Detective Richie Roberts (Russell) in the process. To me, the most memorable thing about the film was its trailer, which I consider to be better than the movie itself:

ScreenDaily spoke with Narcos co-creator Chris Brancato, who revealed that his planned prequel is set five years before the events of the movie and will be called The Godfather of Harlem. It tells the story of Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, who was played by an uncredited Clarence Williams III in American Gangster:

ScreenDaily's interview also mentions that Brancato is having conversations with rapper Kendrick Lamar about potentially providing the music for this show. As The Playlist notes, this wouldn't be the first time a well-known rapper became involved with this franchise: Jay-Z released an album called American Gangster in 2007 that was inspired by Scott's movie.

Whitaker is attached to star in The Godfather of Harlem as Bumpy Johnson, which seems like a cool opportunity for him to dig into a morally murky character over a long period of time. The project doesn't have a home yet, but the plan is to shop it to places like Netflix (where Brancato already has a relationship due to Narcos), Amazon, and Hulu. The script is already written, so I expect we'll be hearing more about this soon.

American Gangster is a 2007 American biographical crime film directed and produced by Ridley Scott and written by Steven Zaillian. The film is loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts. The film stars Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, with co-stars Ted Levine, John Ortiz, Josh Brolin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ruby Dee, Lymari Nadal and Cuba Gooding Jr.

Development for the film initially began in 2000, when Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment purchased the rights to a New York magazine story about the rise and fall of Lucas. Two years later, screenwriter Steven Zaillian introduced a 170-page scriptment to Scott. Original production plans were to commence in Toronto for budget purposes; however, production eventually relocated permanently to New York City. Because of the film's rising budget Universal canceled production in 2004. After negotiations with Terry George, it was later revived with Scott at the helm in March 2005. Principal photography commenced over a period of five months from July to December 2006; filming took place throughout New York City and concluded in Thailand.

American Gangster premiered in New York on October 20, 2007, and was released in the United States on November 2. The film was well received by critics and grossed over $266 million worldwide. Many of the people portrayed, including Roberts and Lucas, have stated that the film took much creative license with the story, and three former DEA agents sued Universal claiming the agency's portrayal was demoralizing. American Gangster was nominated for twenty-one awards, including two Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Supporting Actress for Ruby Dee, who also won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.

In 1968, Frank Lucas is the right-hand man of Harlem mob boss Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson. When Johnson dies of a heart attack, Frank enters the heroin trade, buying directly from producers in Thailand and smuggling it into the U.S. through returning Vietnam War servicemen. Frank sells his heroin under the brand "Blue Magic", whose affordability and purity make it incredibly popular, eliminating much of his competition.

Newark Detective and aspiring lawyer Richie Roberts is ostracized in his precinct after handing in almost $1 million that he found in a mobster's car. Captain Lou Toback puts Roberts in charge of a special task force that targets major drug suppliers, after Roberts' partner overdoses on Blue Magic. Roberts is also depicted having a bitter divorce battle with his ex-wife over his infidelity.

Frank's heroin racket prospers; he eventually sells Blue Magic wholesale to many dealers in the New York Tri-State Area and expands his distribution through other criminal organisations. With this monopoly, Frank becomes Harlem's top crime lord, opening legitimate business fronts and maintaining a low profile, while befriending politicians and famous celebrities (such as Joe Louis). He buys a mansion for his mother and recruits his five brothers as his lieutenants. Frank eventually falls in love with and marries Eva, a Puerto Rican beauty queen. He attends the Fight of the Century with her, where Roberts spots Frank, notices he has better seats than the Italian mobsters, and begins investigating him. Frank also comes to odds with competing local gangster Nicky Barnes; corrupt NYPD detective Nick Trupo, who is among many people Frank is forced to bribe; and the Corsican mafia, who unsuccessfully attempt to assassinate Frank and his wife for putting them out of business.

One night, Roberts' detectives witness one of Frank's cousins, Jimmy Zee, shoot his girlfriend; he becomes their informant in lieu of being convicted. They make Jimmy wear a wire, through which they learn that Frank has negotiated one final shipment of heroin after the fall of Saigon. They identify and search one of the last planes carrying Lucas' stock, discovering that it is being smuggled through the coffins of dead servicemen. They follow the drugs into Newark's projects and obtain a warrant to raid Frank's heroin processing facility, which results in the death of Frank's nephew Stevie Lucas and the arrest of Frank's brother Huey. They then arrest the other four brothers, and finally Frank himself.

During a trial against Frank, Roberts offers him a chance at leniency if he will help him expose corrupt police officers, to which Frank agrees. Following Frank's cooperation, three-quarters of the New York DEA and many NYPD officers are arrested and convicted, while Trupo commits suicide. Roberts becomes a defense attorney and has Frank as his first client. Frank is sentenced to 70 years in prison, of which he serves 15 years and is released in 1991.

In 2000, Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment purchased the rights to "The Return of Superfly", by Mark Jacobson, an article published in New York magazine story about the rise and fall of the 1970s heroin kingpin Frank Lucas.[3] In 2002, screenwriter Steven Zaillian brought a 170-page script to director Ridley Scott, who expressed interest in making two films from it. However, Scott did not immediately pursue the project, choosing to make Kingdom of Heaven instead. In November 2003, Universal and Imagine entered negotiations with Brian De Palma to direct Tru Blu, with a script by Zaillian based on the life of Frank Lucas.[4][5] Zaillian interpreted the account as one of "American business and race", focusing the script thematically on corporate business.[6] Production was initially slated for a spring 2004 start.[4]

In March 2004, the studio entered new negotiations with Antoine Fuqua to direct, as well as Denzel Washington to star in the film as Frank Lucas.[7] The following May, Benicio del Toro entered negotiations to star as Detective Richie Roberts, who brought down Lucas. Production of Tru Blu was reset to begin in early fall 2004, with the film slated for a release date of June 3, 2005.[8] In September 2004, Dania Ramirez entered negotiations to join the cast of the film, now titled American Gangster.[9]

Universal Pictures reported that it greenlit American Gangster with a budget of $80 million, which escalated to $93 million, with $10 million for development costs and $3 million for the delay of the production start date. Sources close to the director insist that the budget was $93 million from the beginning. The studio also sought for American Gangster to be produced in Toronto rather than New York City to save money, but Fuqua resisted the re-location. The studio's parent company General Electric received tax credits in New York City, so production was moved to the city. This change increased the budget to $98 million. Fuqua's camp insisted that it was seeking ways to reduce the budget, but the studio argued about several aspects of the project under him. The director had wanted to film a Vietnam sequence in Thailand and to cast notable names such as Ray Liotta and John C. Reilly in minor roles. To add to the studio's budgetary concerns, Fuqua was rewriting the script during the pre-production process. The director did not have a shot-list, final locations, and supporting actors signed to initiate production.[10]

Fuqua was fired on October 1, 2004, four weeks before principal photography would begin.[10] The studio cited creative differences for its action.[11] After Fuqua's departure, the studio met with Peter Berg to take over directing the film, and Denzel Washington had approved of the choice.[10] Due to the search potentially escalating a budget already in the US$80 million range and the difficulty in recouping the amount based on the film's subject matter, Universal canceled production of American Gangster, citing time constraints and creative elements.[12] The cancellation cost the studio $30 million, of which $20 million went to Washington and $5 million went to del Toro due to their pay or play contracts.[10]

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