Untitled Martin Scorsese/Sharon Stone/Meryl Streep Project

This is my first post, so hi everybody. I've been occasionally following conversations around here for quite some time, even going back to the old IMDB message board days, without ever posting. My english is a little shaky and I didn't want to sound stupid. At least not more so than I actually am.

I started a new thread on this topic, after Mattsby brought it up in the Irishman discussion.
Well, this secret Scorsese project is really fascinating. It could be anything at this point. He is known to be working on many different things at the same time. For example, if I remember correctly, it has been years since he first talked about finishing a documentary on British Cinema, and I have no idea what happened to that one. Probably still tinkering with it.

What's different here is that this project seems to be much more high profile, with at least two pretty big name actors involved.

All we "know" so far is what Stone has been saying about it here and there. On WTF with Maron, notably after he directly asked her about a project with Scorsese, (per IMDB trivia) she stated that filming had wrapped "awhile ago," on this movie. She added that Scorsese has "many plates spinning" at once and thus the reason very little has been released about this.
Stone: "Well, I did something with Marty a couple years ago and it's whenever he gets it edited but it's not about me; I'm just a supporting person in this project."

Now, what's more interesting is what she had to say in an article from last october. From MarieClaire:
Stone began by talking about her latest project, a create-your-own-murder-mystery called Mosaic with Steven Soderbergh, as well as her new secret Netflix project with Meryl Streep and Martin Scorcese. Literally, it's so secret all we know is that it's a docu-drama that's not about Stone, but not not about Stone, as she's a character. "I'm gonna blow it if I keep talking. It is about one of my favorite people, and someone who is one of your favorite people, so it's gonna be good."

So, a docu-drama about one of her favorite people, and she is pretty much playing herself, or a version of herself.

When I first read about this, the first Scorsese project from a few years ago that came to my mind, and this is probably just wishful thinking on my part, was that semi-autobiographical Fellini-8 1/2-type of movie Scorsese and De Niro have been thinking about for years.

Here is a short reminder, from Filmmaker Magazine in 2011:

"This news got me thinking about another project Scorsese has on the back burner — he and De Niro making a Fellini-like film that looks back on the tandem’s incredible collaboration. The idea, created by screenwriter Eric Roth, goes like this: While making their next film The Irishman — an adaptation of the book I Hear You Paint Houses, which looks at the life of alleged Jimmy Hoffa murderer, Frank Sheeran and also stars Al Pacino and Joe Pesci — Scorsese would shoot a side project that meshes footage from the film with a story based on he and De Niro’s experiences in Hollywood that would be in the style of an 8 1/2 or La Dolce Vita.
Now it goes without saying that pulling this off is a gargantuan task, even for Scorsese and De Niro, but when I spoke to De Niro during the release of Limitless he said he still wants to do it and it still might happen."

Some on here might remember that De Niro was talking quite a lot about this project, around the release of Limitless and probably also Little Fockers. There are certainly some clips on this to be found on YouTube. Sadly, a few years later he mentioned that they weren't able to make it work. Which was also stated by Eric Roth on a different occasion.

As far as I know, Scorsese and De Niro have been working on this even before the whole Irishman-angle. Paul Schrader was to be the writer, on a project about "their time together", writer, director, actor, but that also didn't go that far. Schrader said everyone of them remembered things differently, so basically, I guess, it failed because of a clash of egos.

All this makes it sound highly unlikely that this secret project is indeed a version of that movie. It would also be a big departure for Scorsese, artistically. While he admires Fellini enormously, he still is a pretty different kind of director, less freewheeling, impressionistic. And one wonders if it would have been possible to keep the whole thing a secret, especially if at least some of it was shot some time ago, which also takes it further away from the possible connection to The Irishman. Also, my dear Bobby D was pretty much for years running around, saying in every talk show or in the papers he was going to do Paint Houses with Scorsese, without bringing the other side project up again, and if so, then saying it was pretty much dead.

But there are still some aspects of this thing that lets it point toward that old idea. First, a Scorsese/De Niro version of 8 1/2 or, as they also put it back then, something similar to what Vincente Minnelli had done with The Bad and the Beautiful & Two Weeks in Another Town, sounds just too good to completely put aside. Every kind-hearted movie fan would faint in anticipation.

Then there's the whole Netflix angle. Could they have bought both (connected) projects, The Irishman and this? Also, that whole Sharon Stone playing herself angle is a pretty good argument. And if that "favorite" person of hers, that the project is apparently about, is indeed De Niro, that would also explain the participation of Streep, as she is the one with a shared history with De Niro, of course going back to The Deer Hunter. Scorsese and her pretty much went their separate ways. But keep in mind, all this only makes sense if it is indeed that autobiographical project.

It's also possible it truly is "Scorsese looking back", or him playing with his views on the industry and filmmaking, just without the participation of De Niro. Instead centering on some other alter ego played by a different guy, an other icon of his generation maybe, or someone closer to him, Keitel for example. Or it's about someone else entirely, a historical figure, with Scorsese working in another context, not exploring HIS past in the movie business.

This 8 1/2 thing, even possibly with De Niro, at least for me, would be huuuuge, to say it in the words of a famous east-coast intellectual. But honestly, also quite unlikely. I just can't imagine something like this could be kept a secret. But even Stone feared in the interview above she couldn't say more without blowing it.

It seems Scorsese is working with Eric Roth next, on Flower Moon, and Roth has a long history with De Niro. Maybe they still made it work. Hopefully.