The Irishman
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci
While master actor Robert DeNiro and director Martin Scorsese have established highly-praised voluminous careers separate from each other, their work together has stirred the most hurrahs and made them cinematic Olympians of. Whether it was “Taxi Driver or “Raging Bull,” their collaborations have raised the level of filmic art and forged a dynamic that has been truly special. Over 50 years, this Academy Award-winning filmmaker has crafted iconic gangster stories starting with “Mean Streets” to “Goodfellas” and “Casino” and now “The Irishman” joins that list.
While the jury hasn’t fully entered the box on “The Irishman” — it will take time and a shelf full of awards to establish its ultimate status (it’s already won the NY Critics and NBR Awards) — the talk’s been good. It received incredible reviews when it opened the New York Film Festival, making it a certain Oscar contender. Scorsese’s three-and-a half-long epic has been compared to a Rembrandt painting by The New York Times and the film received an unprecedented 100% “fresh”rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
But getting the film financed for both big and small screen again presented a daunting challenge to Scorsese and DeNiro after a decade-long quest — so this time around, it’s Netflix’s movie. Recalled the legendary 76-year-old director during a press conference, “There’s a really long history because Bob and I really wanted to work together since we did ‘Casino’ which was in 1995, and we would check with each other as to what projects we were doing, things like that, but never quite connecting.”
Added the Oscar-winning actor, “Yeah, we were talking about a project for about two years before, and I said now I should just read [about this story while doing] for research on [a mobster named] Frankie Machine. And then I read it.”
The 76-year-old actor is referring to another project that had been under consideration — “The Winter of Frankie Machine.” Though it was pitched for possible production, it fell to this project to get made. How did it get started? Producer Jane Rosenthal had explained that in 2007 she and partner DeNiro were trying to make this other movie, “The Winter of Frankie Machine.” “On a call with Paramount Pictures head Brad Gray, Bob brought up this other book that he had read and said, ‘Maybe we could do this together or maybe not.’ The book was ‘I Hear You Paint Houses,’ and we decided that we should do it.”
With that, Scorsese responded, “When Bob presented the book to me, it seemed that he was very strongly attached to the character. We didn’t have to say much. After the phone call with Brad, I got Steve [Zaillian] to write the script. That was about 10 years ago.”
Based on Charles Brandt’s 2004’s book, “The Irishman” stars DeNiro [who is part Irish], as Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, Al Pacino as union leader Jimmy Hoffa, and Joe Pesci as mob boss Russell Bufalino; in it, Sheeran recounts his job as a union official who doubles as a hitman for the Bufalino crime family. Born in 1920 to Philadelphia-based house painter Thomas Francis Sheeran Jr., and Mary Agnes Hanson, the young Sheeran grew up in a small working-class Irish neighborhood on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Darby, Pennsylvania. As a World War II veteran, he learned his killing skills fighting in many important battles in Italy.
“The Irishman” received incredible reviews, making it an obvious Oscar contender in a variety of categories. Scorsese’s film has been compared to a Rembrandt painting by The New York Times and received an unprecedented 100 percent “fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
In the film, the killer looks back on his Mafia life, the hits that defined his career, and the crucial part he claims he played in the disappearance of life-long friend Hoffa, the former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Hoffa mysteriously vanished in late July 1975 at age 62. A classic mobbed-up union figure fighting for his constituency — while taking wads of cash under the table — Hoffa provided a challenge for any actor. For Scorsese, this film offered an opportunity for him to finally work with Pacino. The award-winning actor remembered that, “Oh yeah, it was because in today’s world, you have a lot of access to these kinds of characters because of people who know them, or knew them; there’s lots of books about them. We had access to all that. When I played Serpico, the thought of him on a video somewhere was… I mean it wasn’t even a thought, but I had him. That’s always an advantage. But Jimmy knew so much about it, I grew up at the time of [all this in the news].”
The movie also re-teams the director with DeNiro and Pesci, who last worked together maybe 20 years ago. As DeNiro noted, “Opportunities passed and then Joe and I would talk about the movie too. We went through our own process of talking about it as far as all that goes. But I’m just happy we all finally got to do it because it did take a long time. The way that Martin was able to do it and the way that we wanted to do it, we were lucky to have the people who put up that money.”
Scorsese agreed, “Yes, that was the key! We couldn’t get a backer, there was no way, for years. But, ultimately it was [Netflix’s] Ted Serrandos. He actually backed the film and financed it.”
Still there was another huge challenge facing the director. The story spans three decades and more. That offered a unique opportunity. As he explained, “[Visual effects supervisor] Pablo Helman and Maya had come up with a solution for the de-aging process that wouldn’t interfere with Bob and Joe — like talking to each other with helmets on or tennis balls on their faces. We did tests a few years ago, but it’s a costly experiment. Yet Ted and everyone at Netflix said, ‘go with it!’ Creatively, they turned to us and there was no interference of any kind. There were some notes from time to time and we addressed them — or not.
“The point is that it was necessarily an interesting hybrid in a way, because it hung in the balance [for] what a film is. All of this is an extraordinary time of change, but when it comes down to it, ultimately, we all felt the picture had to be made for ourselves really. We had to check in with each other; as you grow older, people change differently at times and you grow separate away from each other. This was not the case; we just kept coming back and still have a telepathic way of working together, particularly with certain characters. And, It’s my first time working with Al, finally!”
To which, Al chimed in, “I read the script, I promise!”
As for that, Scorsese replied: “I know so because the marks you hit and the lines [you said] were very specific. Certain people think he would have a lack of appreciation… You know it’s there, it’s in the script, but it’s the interpretation.
The 79-year-old master thespian added, “Somebody said to me, about the age thing, and they showed me this thing of Bob doing ‘Good Fellas,’ and I thought, ‘why is he doing this again?’”
Scorsese explained, “I’ve always told this story about the first day of shooting with you, of you getting out of the chair. It was you and me, and you were complaining about “those Kennedys, they go to war with these people” — remember, on the TV? That was the first time I’ve ever worked with you too and I said, ‘That’s great!’ It was really good what he did and I said one more take and he gets up out of the chair, yells at the TV and leaves again, at which point I say, ‘Good, maybe we’ll do one more and I think we can move on.’
“There were two cameras going, and this was [with] the three lenses on each camera. I think it was [cinematographer] Rodrigo Pietro, Pablo and I think Gary. It wasn’t just about lenses and computer imagery. It’s about posture, about movement, it’s about everything, so there were people on each element dealing with the actors on this.
“And Gary came over and said, ‘I have to tell you something.’ And I’m like ‘What?’ and he says, ‘He’s supposed to be 49.’
“I said, ‘Why are you telling me?’
“He says, ‘No, you have to tell him!’
“I walk over and say, ‘Al, everything’s fine, but one of the things is that when you get out of the chair, you’re supposed to be 49.’
“Al’s like, ‘Oh God, Okay!’
“We were sculpting this whole thing, it was like working models in a way, plus the truth about how they’re interpreting. It’s an extraordinary experience!”
To which Pacino acknowledged, “Young again!”