Martin Scorsese is a serious student of film history. And he’s also fascinated by the world of talented types who made it. Over the years, he’s tried to get films about Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra on screen (he’s still working on the latter) and now it appears that he’s considering tackling the love affair between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Paramount is busy putting together the project as a film for him to direct, buying up the rights to Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger’s book Furious Love, which focuses on the tempestuous relationship sparked between the actors when they worked together on 1963's Cleopatra. Their passion led to two marriages breaking up and the pair themselves making two trips to the altar.
The studio has won a rights agreement with Burton’s estate, with widow Sally Hay Burton planning to allow access to his library for research purposes. And, according to Deadline, there’s a call out to Taylor’s estate for a similar deal.
Before she died in March, Taylor had already allowed the book’s authors to see many of the love letters that passed between the pair, though ironically, the tome received zero film offers when it was originally shopped around the studios. How things change: Paramount had to fight off the likes of Natalie Portman and King’s Speech writer David Seidler for the rights.
There’s no word on when this thing might actually arrive on screens since no writer is attached yet. And even if the script does pass muster with Marty, his directorial plate is already overflowing with possibilities…