The film will be a remake of the 1934 classic about one-time detective Nick Charles and his new bride, the well-heeled Nora, and the ways in which they both find themselves investigating a murder. William Powell and Myrna Loy played the couple on screen in six films. On Broadway, the couple came to life in a 1991 musical, Nick & Nora, played by Barry Bostwick and Joanna Gleason.

Marshall earned Tony Award nominations for his choreography for Kiss of the Spider Woman, Damn Yankees, She Loves Me, and Little Me, along with Cabaret, for which he also received a nomination for Best Direction. In addition, he received an Academy Award nomination for his direction of Chicago and he worked with Depp on the soon-to-be-released Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.