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Goodfellas prequel gathers pace

Scorsese keen on TV project - are you?

Goodfellas prequel gathers pace
01 November 2010

It happens in every other movie, ever made, but in reality spilling a cup of tea on yourself due to sheer surprise happens with disappointing infrequency.

One ShortList wordsmith had exactly that recently while browsing the Sunday Times Culture and sinking a butter covered scone. The words 'Goodfellas TV series' and 'Marty wants to do it' hit him like a Tommy De Vito shoe to the cranium.

Yes indeed, it seems that a television-based prequel to the 1990 Martin Scorsese directed gangster flick, Goodfellas, is well and truly on the cards.

When Culture writer Nev Pierce asked Goodfellas (and the book it was based on Wiseguy) writer Nicholas Pileggi about the project, Pileggi said: "We're trying. I want to do it. Marty [Scorsese] wants to do it, Warner Bros wants to do it. Of course you can't pick up from Goodfellas, since we murdered everybody, or rather everybody murdered everybody. There's nobody left. But I think we're going to figure out a way to do the early years - sort of a prequel. The part of the movie people often like best is the opening third, where all the funny stuff is happening, and there's so much we couldn't fit in."

Some of you will be drooling at this juncture. Alarm bells will be ringing for others. We tracked down the film journo who bagged the interview, Nev Pierce, and asked for his opinions on the project: "I think it’s a great idea – why not? Pileggi’s book has so many rich, fascinating stories and characters. Henry Hill is also still around, to be able to flesh things out further. And TV – particularly in the US – has shown it can match cinema for production values, while telling long-form, complex stories. Pileggi and Scorsese have worked brilliantly together in the past – on Casino, as well as GoodFellas – so the fact they may work together again, in the Mob world, is good news."

Agree? Is a return to Henry Hill's story a smart move? Or a needless dredging of cinema gold? Vote in our poll, just there on the right.

Main image: Allstar