Fred Roos ("The Godfather", "Lost in Translation") is producing "Street of Dreams," the true story of Japanese-American gangster Montana Joe reports Variety.
The $25 million-$30 million pic is fully financed by Japan's Kinema Motion Pictures, but will be shot entirely in Los Angeles. Roger Towne ("The Natural," "The Recruit"), who has researched the hoodlum for several years, wrote the screenplay.
The film will cover the isolation and oppression of Japanese immigrant society in the California valley farm communities during the Depression; the internment of Japanese Americans during the 1940s and their role in the U.S. military during WWII; and Japanese gambling culture.
The project has been planned since 2002, he said, but the spreading craze for poker - Montana Joe was a highly skilled player - has made it more immediately appealing at present.
