![]() ![]() Bill kills Vallon, as witnessed by Vallon’s young son, Amsterdam (who grows up to become Leonardo DiCaprio). ![]() The story, which went through many drafts and several additional writers, begins with a showdown between the Irish gang, the Dead Rabbits, led by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson), and the anti-immigration Natives, led by the meat cleaver-wielding Bill “The Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis). Scorsese optioned The Gangs of New York and his friend, Jay Cocks – the critic-turned-screenwriter – finished the first draft of the script in 1978. It’s something of a spiritual prequel to his contemporary gangster films, but oddly of-its-time, too – even Scorsese succumbed to post-millennium stylings. Now, 20 years since its release, Gangs of New York is a curious entry in Scorsese’s body of work. The film – starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz – was finally released on 20 December 2002, after decades of delays, a vast reconstruction of Lower Manhattan in Rome, and a series of spats between Scorsese and his since disgraced producer, Harvey Weinstein. It would ultimately take 25 years to put Scorsese’s grand vision on the big screen. Based on a cult favourite book by Herbert Asbury, the film would be an epic tale about Five Points slum in 19th-century New York and the gangs who terrorised its streets. The ad announced a film that was about to go into production: Gangs of New York, from the hot thirtysomething director of Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese. ![]() In June 1977, a two-page ad was published in the Hollywood trade magazine, Daily Variety. ![]()
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