As Martin Scorsese gears up to direct the financial-centered drama The Wolf of Wall Street, another one of his many percolating projects is moving closer to the production stage. Deadline reports that Universal Pictures has tapped Billy Ray (State of Play) to write the screenplay for the biopic Sinatra, which Scorsese has been developing for the quite some time. Little is known about the film's plot or what aspects of Sinatraâs life will be depicted onscreen, but the hiring of a writer signals that Scorsese is keen on making Sinatra sooner rather than later.Hit the jump for more, including a recap of what other projects Scorsese has on his plate.The initial draft of Sinatra was written by Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams), but we learned in March of 2011 that Universal was looking for another scribe to take a crack at it. Ray most recently did work on the script for The Hunger Games and penned Paul Greengrassâ real life drama Captain Phillips. Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men, The Social Network) is still onboard as the filmâs producer alongside Sinatraâs daughter Tina Sinatra. Thereâs still no word on who Scorsese would get to play the iconic singer, but we all know heâs a big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio.Following Hugo, Scorsese was set to finally tackle the 17th century Jesuit priest drama Silence, which is one of the lingering projects heâs been most passionate about making. However, for reasons unknown, the stars aligned for The Wolf of Wall Street to be Scorseseâs post-Hugo project. Rumor had it that Hugo producer Graham Kingâwho planned on producing and financing Silenceâand Scorsese had a sort of falling out that put Silence in more uncertain territory financially speaking.In addition to Silence and Sinatra, Scorsese is also developing the mob drama The Irishman with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. At this point itâs unknown which of the threeâif anyâwill be Scorseseâs next project after Wall Street, but Iâm personally pulling for Silence to get the go-ahead.  Nevertheless, Rayâs hiring signals that Scorsese is definitely serious about Sinatra getting made, so depending on how the script turns out we could see this one relatively soon.
Billy Ray to Pen Martin Scorsese’s SINATRA
Billy Ray to Pen Martin Scorsese’s SINATRA. Billy Ray will write the script for director Martin Scorsese's Frank Sinatra movie Sinatra.