Scorsese had previously mentioned that the Sinatra picture he wanted to make would feel like a combination of "Goodfellas" and "The Aviator." Well, it seems like that dream biopic will finally not be happening.
"We can't do it," Scorsese told The Toronto Sun. "I think it is finally over. [Sinatra's estate] won't agree to it. Open it up again and I'm there."
"Certain things are very difficult for a family, and I totally understand," Scorsese said. "But if they expect me to be doing it, they can't hold back certain things. The problem is that the man was so complex. Everybody is so complex – but Sinatra in particular."
"It's very hard [to write the script] because here is a man who changed the entire image of the Italian-American," he said. "And that's just one thing. Along with his political work, civil rights, the mob."
"We can't go through the greatest hits of Sinatra's life," he said at the time. "We tried this already. Just can't do it. So the other way to go is to have three or four different Sinatras: younger, older, middle-aged, very old. You cut back and forth in time – and you do it through the music. ... So that's what we're trying for. It's very tricky."