De Niro to Reteam With Scorsese for “The Irishman”

De Niro to Reteam With Scorsese for “The Irishman”

Movie News

By our guest blogger, Joe Oliveto

“Taxi Driver.” “Raging Bull.” “Little Fockers?”

It’s tough for an aging star to hold on to his legacy in Hollywood, where so much emphasis is put on youth, but damn, Robert De Niro’s career has taken a nosedive. This past decade has seen him star in everything from promising but flawed projects (“What Just Happened”) to some serious “WTF?” films (“Showtime”). He may be one of the greatest actors of all time, but he certainly lost his talent for choosing the right roles.

Luckily, salvation may be available for the Hollywood icon. Speaking with MTV, the star confirmed that he and former collaborator Martin Scorsese plan on moving forward with “The Irishman,” an adaptation of the true-crime book “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt. The film will explore the career of Frank Sheeran, a contract killer for the mob who supposedly had a hand in killing Jimmy Hoffa (although Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski, whose story is also rumored to be getting the big screen treatment, was another hitman who claimed to have played a role in that slaying.)

If that’s not enough to get devoted crime film fans salivating, De Niro also says that Joe Pesci and Al Pacino will star in the film. Joe Pesci has been semi-retired for years, appearing in one scene of De Niro’s last directorial effort “The Good Shepherd” before once again stepping out of the limelight. If he’s actually on board it will be exciting to see him back to doing what he does best: kicking people to death and uttering profanities. At least, that’s what we’re assuming.

Pacino, on the other hand, has never worked with Martin Scorsese, although he has now been in a few films with De Niro. Fans have been hoping this pairing of actor and director would someday come to fruition, and if all goes well, it looks like it will finally happen.

This genre isn’t new ground to Scorsese, and it’s almost a little bit disappointing to see him forced back into it. He’s got some of the greatest crime films of all time under his belt, but he’d been looking to get another passion project, “Silence,” off the ground for years now. Sadly, there’s more money in a Scorsese mob flick than there is for a movie about Jesuit priests in Japan.

Still, we’ll be there opening day for this one. With the talent involved, it’s not like it’ll be anything less than spectacular.