The Irishman (2019)
- The original script for The Irishman was written over a decade before production finally began in 2019.
- During the filming of The Irishman, Robert De Niro improvised one of the most famous lines in the movie.
- Martin Scorsese originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
The Irishman is a 2019 American epic crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on Charles Brandt's book I Heard You Paint Houses. Robert De Niro stars as Frank Sheeran, a World War II veteran turned Teamsters union official and hitman who claims to have been involved in some of the most significant events in organized crime history, including the assassination of Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa, played by Al Pacino. Joe Pesci came out of retirement to play Russell Bufalino, the quietly powerful Pennsylvania crime boss who is Frank's mentor and handler.
The Irishman was Martin Scorsese's most elegiac and introspective crime film, a 209-minute meditation on aging, loyalty, regret, and the empty rewards of a life built on violence. Netflix financed the film's $159 million budget, which included groundbreaking de-aging technology that digitally made De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci appear decades younger in flashback sequences spanning the 1950s through 1970s. The film's devastating final act, depicting Frank's lonely old age โ abandoned by his daughter, his friends all dead, unable to feel remorse โ was among Scorsese's most powerful work.
The Irishman received ten Academy Award nominations.
