If you can't have Martin Scorsese do your movie, then Michael Mann makes a highly acceptable substitute. Scorsese has long been discussed as director for Frankie Machine, a vehicle his old mucker Robert De Niro has been attached to since 2005. But it's been announced that the project is now being developed by Michael Mann, who last worked with De Niro on Heat. The fact that Mann is developing the movie doesn't mean that he's guaranteed to direct it, but surely the movie gods wouldn't be so cruel as to take Scorsese from a project and then dangle and quickly withdraw Mann?
The movie is an adaptation of the novel The Winter of Frankie Machine, by Don Winslow. It tells of Frank Machianno, a retired mob hitman who has taken a more relaxed life running a bait shop. But – and there's always a but – he's forced out of retirement for One Last Time when the son of a mob boss asks his help in resolving a mafia dispute and he learns that he's been set up for a hit.
Scorsese, who is now making Shutter Island with Leonardo DiCaprio, was working from a script by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, but that script is now being overhauled by Alex Tse (Watchmen).