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Peter Buchman Visiting With the Mob in Making Jack Falcone

by Alex Billington
November 4, 2008

Steven Soderbergh has been topping the headlines quite a bit recently. In addition to his Che epic gaining more and more buzz every week, we recently announced that he would direct a 3-D rock 'n roll Cleopatra musical next April. Soderbergh has launched another project, this one titled Making Jack Falcone, an undercover mob story based on Joaquin "Jack" Garcia's bestselling book. Soderbergh has brought on his Che collaborator Peter Buchman for the adaptation that is being developed at Paramount. However, Soderbergh is not actually set to direct - he is only executive producing, while Buchman is writing, although Soderbergh will read drafts of the script and offer guidance on the project.

The book, "Making Jack Falcone", published last month, has already hit the top of the New York Times extended bestseller list. The story is about Joaquin "Jack" Garcia, also known as Jack Falcone, a Cuban-American FBI agent who successfully went undercover in the Gambino crime family. He is one of the few FBI agents to nearly become a "made man" in the mob. His look allowed him to pull off a variety of ethnicities, from Sicilian to Cuban, and allowed him to take on different aliases from New York to Miami. "Using a series of carefully created aliases, Jack insinuated himself in the criminal world, from the Badlands of Philadelphia, where he was a gregarious money launderer, to the streets of Miami, where an undercover Garcia moved stolen and illicit goods and brought down dirty cops." Sounds like a good read.

At first I was excited that this was another Soderbergh project, but without him directing, there's not much to get excited about yet. In my mind, Buchman isn't exactly the best writer, although he's slowly but surely gaining my respect. As long as he puts together a solid script and they find a competent director, which I don't think will be a problem, this could be a fantastic film. Something about the whole story sounds very thrilling, right down to the FBI creating a special "mob school" for Jack, teaching him how to eat, talk, and think like a mobster, before sending him out undercover. We're in need of more great mob movies and with the right creative team, Making Jack Falcone could be one of the better ones.

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