A trio of prominent producers are teaming up for "Havana Nocturne," a story of gangsters in 1950's Cuba based on T.J. English's New York Times bestseller.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Eric Eisner ("Hamlet 2"), Gil Adler ("Superman Returns"), and Shane McCarthy are attached as producers on the project. Eisner's L+E banner will produce and finance development, while Adler will produce through his Gilbert Adler Prods.
"Nocturne" centers on a group of mainly American gangsters in Batista's Cuba, particularly Meyer Lansky, who run the freewheeling country's casinos and nightclubs, and the rivalries that emerge as they lead the high life.
But the good times of their so-called "mobsters paradise" threaten to end when Castro's rebels and the Cuban Revolution begin to gather steam.
Matt Cirulnick has signed on to write the script.
Movies set in Cuba have tended to be political affairs like "The Motorcycle Diaries" or show a specific side of Cuban life, like Wim Wenders' "The Buena Vista Social Club." But this one, producers say, will aim to show the entirety of Cuban experience at the time, from the mobsters plotting in nightclubs to the revolutionaries plotting in the jungle.
In The Hollywood Reporter, Eisner stated: "We really want to show Havana and Cuba as a character at a time that it's booming. This is about mobsters who don't only control a few business but try to control an entire country, and the tension that results when their plans go awry."
Producers say they have not yet decided on how hard to seek permission to shoot in Cuba. In the past 50 years, the government has been highly restrictive about allowing U.S. crews into the country. Consequently, many Cuba-set pictures are shot in other Caribbean nations such as Dominican Republic.
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