Boris Karloff was cast as Irish gangster Gaffney, listed on a theatrical release poster as "Boris 'Frankenstein' Karloff". Jack La Rue was cast as Tony Camonte's sidekick Guino Rinaldo (modeled after Al Capone's bodyguard Frank Rio) but as he was taller than Muni, Hawks worried he would overshadow Muni's tough Scarface persona. He was replaced with George Raft, a struggling actor at the time, after Hawks encountered him at a prizefight.; Raft had played an almost identical part the previous year as his feature film debut in Quick Millions, a gangster film starring Spencer Tracy, but the Scarface role would catapult Raft to stardom.
Boris Karloff was cast as Irish gangster Gaffney, listed on a theatrical release poster as "Boris 'Frankenstein' Karloff". Jack La, Rue was cast as. Tony Camonte's sidekick Guino Rinaldo (modeled after Al Capone's bodyguard Frank Rio) but as he was taller than Muni, Hawks worried he would overshadow Muni's tough Scarface persona He was replaced with George Raft, a struggling actor at the time, after Hawks encountered him at a prizefight.; Raft had played an almost identical part the previous year as his feature film debut in Quick Millions, a gangster film starring Spencer Tracy but the Scarface role would catapult Raft to stardom.