Training Day screenwriter David Ayer has signed on to write the Scarface remake for Universal Pictures. We first reported on this project back in September, when the studio was seeking writers.

This new Scarface is said to combine elements of the 1932 Scarface, and the 1983 Scarface, while setting it in a modern crime world. Here's what David Ayer had to say about taking on this new project.

"This is a fantasy for me, I can still remember when I saw the film at 13 and it blew my mind. I sought it out. I went after it hard. I see it as the story of the American dream, with a character whose moral compass points in a different direction. That puts it right in my wheelhouse. I studied both the original Ben Hecht-Howard Hawks movie and the (Brian) De Palma-(Al) Pacino version and found some universal themes. I'm still under the hood figuring out the wiring that will translate, but both films had a specificity of place, there was unapologetic violence, and a main character who socially scared the shit out of people, but who had his own moral code. Each was faithful to the underworld of its time. There are enough opportunities in the real world today that provide an opportunity to do this right. If it was just an attempt to remake the 1983 film, that would never work."

Martin Bregman, who produced the 1983 Scarface, and Marc Shmuger are producing the remake. No production schedule was given for Scarface.