Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio to produce ‘Carthage Must Be Destroyed’

WASHINGTON: Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chad A Verdi, LBI Entertainment’s Christopher Donelly, and Gareth West have teamed up to produce ‘Carthage Must Be Destroyed’, an action film to be directed by Ocean’s Eleven scribe Ted Griffin.

In the action thriller, a stranger happens upon a rust-belt city in decline, ruled by its criminal underworld. He uses brain and brawn to sow distrust and create chaos to dismantle the corrupt power structure, reported Deadline. Verdi Productions and Ketchup Entertainment are financing, and casting is under way for an October production start in Rhode Island.

Scorsese and DiCaprio are executive producers; Verdi, West, Donnelly, Michelle Verdi, Chad Verdi Jr., Paul Luba, and Jennifer Davisson are producers. Lisa Frechette and Sera Verdi are also executive producers. The production companies are Sikelia Productions, Appian Way Productions, Verdi Productions, and Ketchup Entertainment, as per the outlet.

Verdi Productions president Chad A Verdi called the film “a dynamic project,” and they all sparked the idea to “bring Ted’s outstanding screenplay to the big screen. Collaborating with Marty, Leo, Jen, Gareth, and Chris is a pleasure. Our extraordinary production team will elevate this project to new heights,” according to Deadline.

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are an American director-actor collaborative duo who have made six feature films and one short film together since 2002. In 1999, Scorsese produced a documentary on Italian filmmakers titled ‘Il Mio Viaggio in Italia’, also known as ‘My Voyage to Italy’.

The documentary foreshadowed the director’s next project, the epic ‘Gangs of New York’ (2002), which was influenced by (amongst many others) major Italian directors such as Luchino Visconti and filmed entirely at Rome’s famous Cinecitta film studios.

After ‘Gangs of New York’, the duo worked on the 2004 biopic ‘The Aviator’, with DiCaprio starring as aviation pioneer and filmmaker Howard Hughes. (ANI)