Martin Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions has extended its overall feature deal with Paramount Pictures through 2019.
“Marty is one of our industry’s most prolific and celebrated filmmakers and he is also an integral part of the Paramount family,” said Paramount Chairman and CEO Brad Grey. “We are looking forward to many more years and many more great films at Paramount Pictures.”
The partnership has resulted in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Shutter Island,” “Hugo” and the Rolling Stones documentary “Shine a Light.”
Paramount will release Scorsese’s historical drama “Silence,” starring Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield, with Scorsese producing and directing. Jay Cocks and Scorsese wrote the screenplay for the film, which has not set a release date.
The studio said the deal covers development of “The Devil in the White City,” directed by Scorsese, with Leonardo DiCaprio starring and producing with Jennifer Davisson. The movie is written by Billy Ray based on Erik Larson’s novel “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America.”
Scorsese and the studio are also developing a biopic of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein that Scorsese will direct and produce, along with Fred Berner and Amy Durning for Fred Berner Films, from a screenplay by Josh Singer (“Spotlight”). They’re also working on “The Irishman,” directed by Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino. It’s written by Steve Zaillian, based on the novel “I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank ‘The Irishman’ Sheeran and the Inside Story of the Mob, the Teamsters, and the Last Ride of Jimmy Hoffa.”
Paramount Television is collaborating with Scorsese on HBO’s upcoming drama series, “Vinyl,” debuting in 2016. Set in 1970s New York, the show is seen through the eyes of a record label president played by Bobby Cannavale, who is trying to save his music company at the dawn of punk, disco and hip-hop. It will be executive produced by Scorsese, Mick Jagger, Terence Winter, Rick Yorn, Victoria Pearman, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, John Melfi and Allen Coulter.
Paramount has more than a dozen other first-look deals, including pacts with Michael Bay, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Jerry Bruckheimer and Mary Parent, along with David Ellison’s co-financing deal.
