I suppose the cover quote on Buddy Giovinazzo's novel should have been the first clue. "Not since Goodfellas has there been such a brilliant and unique look into the gangster world," says Tony Scott above the title, Potsdamer Platz.
The novel tells the tale of a New York Mafia family who start a massive criminal organization in Berlin at a construction site located in Potsdamer Platz, a famos-in-real-life public Square. Deadline New York reveals that Scott is moving forward on an adaptation and has pulled together some big names in Javier Bardem, Jason Statham and Mickey Rourke. Two of those three are very recent Oscar winners and even Statham is probably just one Transporter sequel away from taking home the gold himself.
The weirdest bit of the whole thing is Deadline's information that the script is getting a massive change of scenery; they claim the setting will move from Europe to Puerto Rico. I haven't read the novel specifically, but based on my own wheelings and dealings as part of an international crime family, I would think this change of setting would make for another story altogether. At the very least, you'd think they'd change the name the film. Keeping Potsdamer Platz would be like setting Sunset Blvd in Australia.
