Martin Scorsese‘s The Irishman, one of the most anticipated films in cinephile circles and an adaptation of the true crime book I Heard You Paint Houses, will begin shooting this August. However, don’t get too excited yet. The film isn’t set to be released until 2019.
Why such a long gap between filming and release? Robert De Niro, who stars, will have to be digitally de-aged so that he can play a 30 year old. De Niro is set to play Frank Sheeran, a mob hitman supposedly involved in the death of Jimmy Hoffa (to be played by Al Pacino).
Industrial Light & Magic are the ones tasked with de-aging De Niro. They were last used in Tron: Legacy, de-aging the character of Clu.
Alongside De Niro and Pacino, the film will star Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel and Bobby Cannavale. With that cast it feels like the film should have been released in the 90s, but the release model certainly won’t be similar to anything from two decades ago. Netflix have the rights to the film and are planning a day-and-date release in 2019 along with an awards qualifying run.
This sounds like the film to make them alter their typical distribution model, it’s hard to imagine a film of this magnitude simply dropping on their service and sitting alongside Sandy Wexler and Small Crimes.
Whether De Niro, Pacino and co. still have it in them to lead such a high profile film is debatable, but if anything can bring back that magic, it’s a mob film directed by Martin Scorsese.
#Peace.Love.TheIrishman
