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Martin Scorsese’s planned biopic of Frank Sinatra (again, with Leonardo DiCaprio) is now dead-and-buried, the filmmaker revealed to Sun Media.

“We can’t do it!” Scorsese said, with a tinge of sadness, in an interview for his new film Silence. “I think it is finally over. They (remaining members of the Sinatra clan) won’t agree to it. Open it up again and I’m there!”

But the darker, more complicated sides of Frank Sinatra’s life as a singer and actor have stopped the project in its tracks, Scorsese explained of the script development stage. Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams) had been writing the screenplay

“Certain things are very difficult for a family, and I totally understand. But, if they expect me to be doing it, they can’t hold back certain things. The problem is that the man was so complex. Everybody is so complex — but Sinatra in particular.”

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Mark Twain once quipped, “Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind it, it doesn’t matter.” When it comes to Martin Scorsese, age certainly isn’t making a difference. After landing 10 Oscar nominations for last year’s historical crime epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the 81-year-old director has mapped out his next several projects. Sources say he plans to shoot two films back to back: the first about Jesus, the second a Frank Sinatra biopic.

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The Sinatra project could also hit some snags: The legendary crooner’s daughter Tina Sinatra controls her father’s estate and hasn’t yet given her blessing to the film. But that hasn’t stopped Scorsese from putting together a killer cast that would see frequent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio playing the singer and Jennifer Lawrence portraying his second wife, actress Ava Gardner, sources say. It was Gardner who broke up Sinatra’s marriage with Nancy Barbato, Tina’s mother. With two of the biggest movie stars on the planet as leads, the film is drawing interest from major studios and streamers. Apple, which financed the $215 million “Flower Moon,” would love to stay in business with Scorsese, but Sony is said to be the frontrunner to nab the project.

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