A new Martin Scorsese film is always something to celebrate, but THE IRISHMAN is looking to be something quite special; Not only has the film been a passion project of Scorsese's for quite some time, but against all odds, he managed to get Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci to lead the picture. With THE IRISHMAN set to debut at the New York Film Festival this Friday, anticipation is high, and producer Jane Rosethal recently dropped a few hints about the film while speaking with Deadline, including that it may be more slow-paced than we're expecting.
I’m excited for the world to get to see it. What will surprise you is, as a Scorsese movie, it is a slower movie. It doesn’t have the kind of intensity, the visual intensity, as a Casino, as a Goodfellas. It is guys looking at themselves through an older perspective.
THE IRISHMAN is based on Charles Brandt's "I Heard You Paint Houses," and stars Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa, Robert De Niro as Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, and Joe Pesci as Russell Bufalino, the mob boss steering him. Rosenthal also teased that the film will will have more of a introspective quality. "What you do look at with something like The Irishman is the toxic masculinity," Rosenthal said, "and what happens when someone chooses one family over their own nuclear family, and then tries to make repairs at the end of their lives. What happens to particularly men who make that decision." At the end of the day, it's something of a minor miracle that THE IRISHMAN was completed at all. "The highlight of making The Irishman was getting the movie made," Rosenthal said. "I’ve been working on it since 2007. In 2013 we finally did a reading of it. I really thought that was the only thing we were going to have, and we had all the actors there. It’s a combination of when people’s availabilities were, getting the right financing, and really the technology being something that would be seamless and intuitive for the actors, and most specifically for Marty. So to be coming out now is extraordinary."
The official synopsis for THE IRISHMAN:
Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci star in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, an epic saga of organized crime in post-war America told through the eyes of World War II veteran Frank Sheeran, a hustler and hitman who worked alongside some of the most notorious figures of the 20th century. Spanning decades, the film chronicles one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in American history, the disappearance of legendary union boss Jimmy Hoffa, and offers a monumental journey through the hidden corridors of organized crime: its inner workings, rivalries and connections to mainstream politics.
THE IRISHMAN will debut at the New York Film Festival on September 26th, followed by a limited theatrical release on November 1, 2019 before finally hitting Netflix on November 27, 2019.