Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, Joe Pesci attended a Q&A for The Irishman at the opening film of the 57th New York Film Festival.
The Irishman is a project 10 years in the making as Robert De Niro first brought the source material (the book I Heard You Paint Houses) to director Martin Scorsese’s attention a decade ago. Scorsese then reached out to screenwriter Steven Zaillian (The Night Of) to pen the script, and the long, laborious process to the screen got underway.
They discuss pulling off the decades-spanning production, getting the momentous cast together, finding the film’s emotional centre in the adaptation process, the testing process of the digital effects, and much more.
The Irishman will be released in Irish cinemas on 8 November and will be available on Netflix from 27 November
The film is described in a press release as “a richly textured epic of American crime, a dense, complex story told with astonishing fluidity. Based on Charles Brandt’s nonfiction book “I Heard You Paint Houses”, it is a film about friendship and loyalty between men who commit unspeakable acts and turn on a dime against each other, and the possibility of redemption in a world where it seems as distant as the moon.
Joe Pesci plays Pennsylvania mob boss Russell Bufalino, Al Pacino is Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa, and Robert De Niro is their right-hand man, Frank Sheeran.
The latest trailer for The Irishman sees De Niro lock horns with Pacino in the gangster heavyweight clash everyone’s been waiting for.
The official plot synopsis says: “Frank is a World War 2 veteran and a former hitman for the mob. His time spent during the war in Italy made him a talented killer. To make ends meet, Frank utilises his skills to become a hitman for the mob.
Now in his old age, Frank reflects back on the moments and hits that defined his mob career. Especially his role in the disappearance of his old friend Jimmy Hoffa, a former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that went missing in 1975, never to be seen again.”
At over three and a half hours in length, The Irishman plot takes place across several different time periods and is utilising sophisticated de-ageing technology so that De Niro and co are able to play their characters from the age of 24 up to their age now.
