'The Irishman' on Netflix: Who Else Will Join Robert De Niro, Al Pacino in Martin Scorsese Movie?

By Rachel Cruz, Christian Post Contributor Saturday, July 15, 2017

Netflix has a big movie project with esteemed director Martin Scorsese. Famous for award-winning movies like "The Departed," "Goodfellas" and "Taxi Driver," Scorsese will reunite with his favorite talent Robert de Niro on the streaming platform in a film called "The Irishman."

Al Pacino will also headline the movie. It will reportedly be the very first time Pacino will work with the director.

"The Irishman" will be based on the book "I Heard You Paint Houses," which tackles the ties of Frank Sheeran (De Niro) to the Bufalino crime family. Sheeran allegedly confessed before he died that he killed union activist Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino) who got involved in organized crime. Hoffa's body was never found.

In putting the movie together, Scorsese also encouraged Joe Pesci to come out from retirement. Pesci, who has worked with Scorsese and De Niro in a number of movies since the '80s, announced he was quitting movies in 1999 and only did one cameo for De Niro's "The Good Shepherd" in 2006. Pesci will play the mafia boss Russell Bufalino in "The Irishman."

Also joining the cast are Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale and Harvey Keitel. Romano, who worked with Scorsese on the short-lived series "Vinyl," will play Bill Bufalino, a mobster lawyer. Cannavale and Keitel's roles, however, have not yet been divulged.

Steve Zaillian will adapt the book for the movie. Scorsese and De Niro have been trying to make the film happen with Paramount Pictures since 2008 before deciding that "The Irishman" would be a better fit on Netflix. The platform allotted $100 million in filming budget as Scorsese will be using CGI to alter the actors' physical age in some scenes.

The movie has no official release date for now but speculations are that it will stream on the platform sometime in 2018. Filming for "The Irishman" is slated this August. Scorsese will likely film the movie back-to-back with another project, "Killers of the Flower Moon," with Leonardo DiCaprio.