Martin Scorsese, William Monahan Teaming for 'The Gambler' at Paramount (Exclusive)

Paramount is going all-in on The Gambler, a remake of the 1974 James Caan addiction drama. The studio has set Martin Scorsese to direct and William Monahan to write. Irwin Winkler, who produced the original, will again act as producer of the new film. The 1974 movie, an adaptation of the short novel The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, detailed a New York English professor who inspires his students but suffers from a secret gambling addiction. The affliction causes him to extort money from his mother and convince one of his students to shave points in a basketball game. Caan received a Golden Globe nomination for best actor for his performance in the original. Lauren Hutton and Paul Sorvino co-starred for director Karel Reisz. (The project is not related to the series of Gambler TV movies that starred Kenny Rogers in the 1980s and 90s.) The gritty New York setting of the original seems a perfect match for Scorsese, who teamed with Monahan on 2006 best picture Oscar winner The Departed. The director has been especially active lately. He has his first family film, Hugo, slated for a Thanksgiving release, and he's preparing to direct Silence, an adaptation of the Shusaku Endo novel. He's also attached to The Wolf of Wall Street, an adaptation of the Jordan Belfort memoir that has attached Leonardo DiCaprio, with whom Scorsese collaborated on Shutter Island. Scorsese is repped by WME and Rick Yorn. Monahan is repped by WME and Anonymous. Paramount declined to comment. Email: Daniel.Miller@thr.com Twitter: @DanielNMiller Related Topics Martin Scorsese Paramount Pictures