Universal has hired ‘Training Day’ writer David Ayer to pen the upcoming ‘Scarface’ film, Collider is reporting. The studio is still saying the new version won’t be a remake, and will instead mix the elements Howard Hawks and Brian De Palma included in their respective 1932 and 1983 movies.

Marc Shmuger and Martin Bregman are on board to produce the new ‘Scarface,’ which Ayer has said he’s excited about working on. “This is a fantasy for me. I can still remember when I saw the film at 13 and it blew my mind.” The screenwriter added that he sees the first two ‘Scarface’ films as the story of the American dream, “with a character whose moral compass points in a different direction. That puts it right in my wheelhouse.”

Ayer also said that he has studied both the Hawks and DePalma films, and found universal themes. He’s still trying to determine how these themes will translate to his movie, but “both films had a specificity of place, there was unapologetic violence, and a main character who socially scared people, but who had his own moral code.”

The screenwriter, who has also co-wrote ‘S.W.A.T’ and ‘The Fast and the Furious,’ added that “There are enough opportunities in the real world today that provide an opportunity to do this right. If it was just an attempt to remake the 1983 film, that would never work.”

Written by: Karen Benardello