What do you get when Scorsese meets The Rock in paradise? Something nobody's ready for.
The greatest gangster director of all time is teaming up with the world's most bankable action star for a true-crime epic about Hawaii's only mob boss. Yes, this is happening. No, it's not a parody headline.
Dwayne Johnson dropped the bomb on The Pat McAfee Show: He and Emily Blunt developed the idea together—after wrapping The Smashing Machine—and personally pitched it to Martin Scorsese. His response? “Blown away.” The story? The rise and fall of Wilford “Nappy” Pulawa, head of Hawaii's 1960s-70s syndicate known as The Company. Production starts in 2026, with Johnson co-writing both the screenplay and a companion book (with Vanity Fair's Nick Bilton doing most of the heavy lifting).
And here's the kicker: This is no vanity project. This is Scorsese's likely next film.
Let that simmer: The Rock. DiCaprio. Blunt. Scorsese. Hawaiian mafia. $200 million.
It's like the algorithm tried to deep-fake a prestige picture and accidentally greenlit a potential masterpiece. On paper, it sounds chaotic. But here's the twist—it makes sense.
Scorsese's gangster films have always hinged on location as character—from the smoky streets of Goodfellas to the sun-bleached chaos of Casino. Hawaii offers a new terrain entirely: lava-rock beaches, luaus masking crime deals, paradise hiding power struggles. It's a fresh angle on a genre that's been bordering on self-parody.
Why This Isn't Just “Goodfellas with Aloha Shirts”
Crime cinema's been in a holding pattern. The Irishman was a swan song. Black Mass, American Made, even The Many Saints of Newark—they leaned nostalgia-heavy and innovation-light. But this project dares to dislocate the genre.
It's rooted in true history, rarely explored onscreen: The Hawaiian mob didn't operate like the East Coast syndicates. It was local, deeply tied to island politics, and completely off most Hollywood radars. This is ethnic specificity meets big-budget bombast. And with Johnson playing against type—and DiCaprio potentially going full unhinged again—we're looking at a movie that could sit somewhere between The Departed and Once Upon a Time in America, but with leis and lava lamps.
Plus: Johnson isn't just starring. He's writing. Producing. Building a world around his Polynesian heritage with Scorsese's eye for systemic rot and moral collapse.
If this feels impossible, remember: “The Irishman” also sounded insane.
A de-aged De Niro? Joe Pesci un-retiring? $150 million on a streaming mob movie? Yet it earned 10 Oscar nominations and dominated film discourse for months. Now imagine that creative ambition—not in grayscale—but set against Kauai cliffs and Honolulu back alleys.
And don't sleep on Blunt. Her chemistry with Johnson already worked (Jungle Cruise was forgettable, but they weren't). And Scorsese's female characters—when given room—shine (The Aviator, Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street).
Would you risk $200 million on a tropical mob movie starring The Rock?
Scorsese just might. And honestly? It's the gamble 2026 needs.
