Martin Scorsese has been a staple in Hollywood for over 50 years, with a slew of awards under his belt to show for it. While he's made some true classics during his storied career, including 1976's Taxi Driver and 1990's Goodfellas, one once highly anticipated picture will forever haunt fans with what might have been: his Dean Martin biopic, often referred to as Dino.
During a press conference in 2004, the Mean Streets director opened up about the project that never materialized, explaining that he and fellow Goodfellas collaborator Nicholas Pileggi truly gave it their all. "There was talk, a lot of it. We did it...Tom Hanks was going to do it. Nick Pileggi and I killed ourselves working on that script...we really suffered making that one." Due to legal issues, the film was eventually put on ice, and Scorsese went on to make Gangs of New York instead.
Tom Hanks wasn't the only huge name attached to the biopic. While Hanks would've played Dean Martin, Variety reported that other stars were planned to play the rest of the famed Rat Pack, including John Travolta as Frank Sinatra, Jim Carrey as Jerry Lewis, and Adam Sandler as Joey Bishop. To have Sandler, who in 1998 was already one of the biggest names in comedy, portray a comedic legend like Bishop seems like a no-brainer. With Scorsese at the helm, Dino feels like another Oscar winner that never was.
