One of the best director/actor duos in the history of cinema is set to get back to work in just a few months. The Irishman, the high-profile, big-budget gangster drama that Netflix recently shelled out top dollar for, is set to reunite director Martin Scorsese with Robert De Niro. Al Pacino and Joe Pesci are also along for the ride. The movie doesn’t have a release date yet, but we now know that the movie is set to start production this August.
IndieWire says “sources connected to the production” have confirmed the highly-anticipated project will start filming this August for a 2019 release. Netflix recently outbid many other major studios for the rights to distribute The Irishman, shelling out $105 million for the global rights to the gangster movie. No other details were revealed about the shoot, but this is a project that has been in the works for quite some time, so knowing that cameras are getting ready to roll is no doubt exciting for many movie fans out there.
The Irishman is based on Charles Brandt’s 2003 book, “I Heard You Paint Houses,” about Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran’s career as a hitman. Robert De Niro is set to play Frank Sheeran, who is said to have been involved in the death of Jimmy Hoffa. Al Pacino is playing Hoffa. Joe Pesci, who is coming out of retirement for The Irishman, plays Russell Bufalino, a Sicilian crime lord who, at one point, ran the entire East Coast mob operation. Harvey Keitel is also set to star in the movie as another Sicilian mafia boss named Angelo Bruno. Frank Sheeran managed to keep his life as a hitman a secret from his family, only confessing his crimes to author Charles Brandt before his death in 2003.
Part of what will make The Irishman a little more expensive and groundbreaking than your average gangster movie is the use of “de-aging” technology, which will reportedly be utilized to make Robert De Niro look like he is 30-years-old in the movie. The technology was made famous in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but has come a long way since then. Industrial Light and Magic will be tasked with making De Niro look young again in the movie, but they should be up to the task. Especially after what they were able to accomplish with Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese have worked together eight times in the past, with The Irishman marking the ninth collaboration between them. Netflix will release the movie on their streaming service, but they will also be giving it a limited, Oscar-qualifying theatrical release as well. Steven Zaillian (Gold) adapted the screenplay for The Irishman which will be directed by Martin Scorsese with a 2019 release date being eyed by Netflix.