Now that The Departed is Scorsese’s most financially successful movie ever, everybody wants a piece of Marty. Hollywood is throwing projects at his feet, and Scorsese is slowly sorting through them. Variety says that one of the movies he may take is based on a children’s novel called “The Invention of Hugo Cabaret”. Warner Brothers has bought the rights to the Brian Selznick book for him, and hired John Logan to turn it into a script.
Having a hard time picturing Martin Scorsese making a kids movie? Me too. But if Robert De Niro can do Rocky & Bullwinkle then anything is possible. Besides, Marty might be able to turn this into something a little more heavy. It’s about a 12-year-old orphan living in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. He becomes involved in a mystery concerning his father and a robot. Yes, that’s right. A depression era robot.
This is supposed to be a best selling novel, but then what isn’t these days. There are so many different best seller categories it sometimes seem that a book merely has to exist to become a best seller. The title doesn’t mean as much as it used ot.
Will this be Martin Scorsese’s next project? Expect him to wait to see if he wins an Oscar this weekend before making a decision. An Oscar in his hand will mean a hefty raise in his asking price. If he loses, his quote stays right where it is. He has everything to gain by waiting.
