Martin Scorsese and Robert Di Niro will collaborate for the first time in decades.
Martin Scorsese's "Silence" may have been his 28-year-old passion project, but it was mostly ignored by audiences, grossing only $7 million in the U.S. opposite a $40 million budget. Something tells us the same fate won't meet the director's next project, which carries an even bigger budget and bigger stars.
Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Departed"
Scorsese has built his career on iconic gangster movies, from "Goodfellas" to "Casino," "Mean Streets" and "The Departed," so his return to the genre after more than a decade is cause for celebration.
"The Irishman" is based on the 2003 book "I Heard You Paint Houses" by Charles Brandt, which recounts the years Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran spent as a mob hitman. Brandt interviewed Sheeran over a five-year period, during which the mobster confessed to being involved in more than 25 hits for the mob. Sheeran was allegedly involved in the death of legendary mob boss Jimmy Hoffa, who went missing in July 1975 and was never found.
Anyone hoping for Scorsese to capture the cinematic energy of "Goodfellas" once again may want to lower their expectations. It appears the filmmaker is going to be making a much more elegiac and sobering gangster movie this time around. "The Irishman" picks up with Sheeran as an older man as he looks back on the hits that defined his mob career.
"The people are also older in 'The Irishman,' it's certainly more about looking back, a retrospective so to speak of a man's life and the choices that he's had to make," Scorsese told The Independent in May.
As to whether the movie follows in the tradition of "Goodfellas"? He told the outlet, "I think this is different, I think it is. I admit that there are - you know, 'Goodfellas' and 'Casino' have a certain style that I created for them - it's on the page in the script actually…The style of the picture, the cuts, the freeze-frames, all of this was planned way in advance, but here it's a little different."
Robert De Niro in "Casino"
Scorsese and Robert De Niro's careers are intertwined after making eight movies together, including "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "The King of Comedy." But the duo haven't made a movie together since "Casino," which was released 22 years ago in November 1995. "The Irishman" will mark their ninth collaboration.
While Scorsese's career in the two decades since has remained strong, De Niro hasn't really had a critically acclaimed lead dramatic role in several years. He earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for "Silver Linings Playbook," but reuniting with Scorsese is just what his big screen career needs most right now.
Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro in "Goodfellas"
The supporting cast for "The Irishman" is truly an embarrassment of riches: Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano and Bobby Cannavale. But arguably the most anticipated bit of casting is Joe Pesci, who has only had two credits to his name this century: A cameo in De Niro's 2006 CIA drama "The Good Shepherd" and a lead role in Taylor Hackford's 2010 flop "Love Ranch." Prior to 2006, Pesci hadn't starred in a single movie since 1998's "Lethal Weapon 4." The semi-retired actor is officially coming back to the big screen for a "Goodfellas" reunion with Scorsese and De Niro.
Pesci had been rumored to be joining "The Irishman," but his casting wasn't confirmed until earlier this month. He's reportedly playing Russell Bufalino, a Mafia boss operating out of Pennsylvania who has long been suspected of having a hand in Hoffa's disappearance. The character means we'll most likely be seeing Pesci and De Niro in scenes opposite one another.
Scorsese and Pesci have made three movies together. Pesci won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his turn in "Goodfellas."
"The Irishman" will follow in the footsteps of "Hugo" as a Scorsese movie that depends heavily on visual effects. The director is teaming with George Lucas' VFX company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to utilize the same effects used on Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" so that De Niro can be digitally aged to look younger in the flashback scenes.
"The Irishman" will include flashbacks that span decades, and De Niro is set to play Sheeran in all of them. He'll appear as young as 30 years old.
The visual effects required for "The Irishman" are part of the reason the film's budget is over the $100 million mark. That's a massive price tag for any filmmaker, and it's why Scorsese has taken up shop at Netflix to make the movie despite his love of the theatrical experience over streaming.
"The Irishman" has been in development since 2008 and was originally going to be backed by Paramount Pictures, but the studio couldn't afford to take on such a risky budget. International rights were purchased by STX Entertainment for $50 million at Cannes 2016, but they backed down after Netflix took over for Paramount and bought worldwide streaming rights.
"The Irishman" is officially shooting in New York City this summer, with a production start date set for the middle of August. Principal photography is scheduled until December. The five-month shoot will just a bit longer than the filming of "Silence," which took place in Taiwan from January 30 to May 15, 2015. But it's nothing compared to "Gangs of New York" shoot. That massive production lasted for nearly eight months (August 2000 - April 2001).
Matin Scorsese and Andrew Garfield on the set of "Silence"
A lot of attention surrounding "The Irishman" is being paid to the people appearing in front of the camera, but just as exciting are the collaborators joining Scorsese behind it. Most notable is cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, who has become a favorite of Scorsese's in recent years after shooting both "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "Silence." The latter earned him his second Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. His first was for "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005. Prieto first earned attention for his work with Alejandro González Iñárritu ("Amores perros," "21 Grams" and "Babel").
Screenwriter Steve Zallian, meanwhile, adapted the book for the big screen. Zallian, who just earned an Emmy nomination for directing his HBO limited series "The Night Of," wrote the script for Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" and earned an Oscar nomination. He won Best Adapted Screenplay for "Schindler's List" in 1993.
Scorsese's longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker will also return for "The Irishman." She was the editor on the director's 1967 feature debut, "Who's That Knocking at My Door," and has edited all of his films since "Raging Bull" in 1980. Her work with Scorsese has resulted in six Oscar nominations for Best Editing and three wins ("Raging Bull," "The Aviator" and "The Departed").
And now for the bad news: "The Irishman" won't be released until 2019. At the very earliest we could get an Oscar-qualifying run in select theaters in late December 2018, but reports say Netflix is eyeing a day-and-date rollout in 2019. Because of the extensive VFX work required, it makes sense the movie won't open for a year after the cameras stop rolling. Let the long wait for "The Irishman" begin.