If anyone’s defined what it means to be Italian-American as much as Martin Scorsese, it’s Frank Sinatra. And if anyone’s defined what it means to be a New Yorker as much as Scorsese, that’s Sinatra, too, thanks in no small part to his cover of the theme song from Scorsese’s New York, New York. The biggest star of the crooning genre, Sinatra began his career in jazz master Tommy Dorsey’s big band and survived the rise of rock and roll through a career that spanned half a century.
There’s a lot of story there, and for almost a decade, it looked like Scorsese would be the man to bring it to the screen. Scorsese sounded thrilled about the project in an interview with ShortList, saying, “Here is a man who changed the entire image of the Italian-American. And that’s just one thing. Along with his political work, civil rights, the Mob…” No doubt fans were thrilled, too.
But the Sinatra estate apparently didn’t feel the same. “We can’t do it!” Scorsese told The Toronto Sun in 2019. “I think it is finally over. … Certain things are very difficult for a family, and I totally understand. But, if they expect me to be doing it, they can’t hold back certain things. The problem is that the man was so complex.” That may not appeal to the Sinatras, but it sure sounds like a lost masterpiece to us.
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