Details are scarce on the project, but Scorsese plans to direct and produce the film along with Fred Berner and Amy Durning.

Bernstein, a towering figure in Broadway and classical music, composed On the Town, Peter Pan, Wonderful Town, Candide and the musical theatre groundbreaker West Side Story. He was awarded a special Tony Award in 1969 and won the 1953 Tony Award for composing Wonderful Town. His score to the 1954 film "On the Waterfront" was Oscar-nominated. He was the long-time musical director and conductor of the New York Philharmonic.

The Bernstein film emerged as one of several projects that were listed as in development as part of an extension between Scorsese's Sikelia Productions and Paramount Pictures, which will now stretch to 2019.

Screenwriter Josh Singer has written the screenplay for the Bernstein film. Singer is the co-writer of the new film "Spotlight," which centers on the Boston Globe's shattering and Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé on sex abuse within the Catholic church. That cast features Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton, Brian d'Arcy James and Liev Schreiber.

A timeline for production on the Bernstein film was not indicated. Scorsese's HBO drama series "Vinyl," which stars Tony nominee Bobby Cannavale as a music exec in 1970s New York, will premiere in 2016.