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Streaming giant Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to long-gestating gangster movie The Irishman, Martin Scorsese‘s return to the genre set to star Robert De Niro as Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran. The film is based on the Charles Brandt nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses, which tells the story of Sheeran, a hitman who had ties to the Bufalino crime family and made claims on his deathbed that he had murdered iconic Teamster leader (and unsolved missing persons case) Jimmy Hoffa. Deadline reports that Netflix shelled out $105 million for the film.
While details in light of the transfer of rights are still up in the air, the film has a slew of massive names attached – in addition to De Niro as Sheeran, Al Pacino is set to play Hoffa, Joe Pesci to star as Russell Bufalino, and Harvey Keitel and Bobby Cannavale in other supporting roles. They’re reportedly investigating ways to make the actors look younger for the series of flashbacks in the film, apparently à la Benjamin Button. This reunion of movie mobsters would reunite De Niro and Scorsese for their ninth film together and mark the first collaboration (shockingly) between Pacino and Scorsese.
After the respective flops of Silence and Vinyl, this flick seems to be the ultimate shot at redemption. Penned by Academy-Award winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian (Schindler’s List, Mission Impossible, Moneyball, and too many other hits to name), The Irishman has been in development since at least 2010, when Scorsese was hard at work on Shutter Island and Boardwalk Empire. While Netflix has only stuck to limited-screen releases thus far, Scorsese’s return to his favorite subject seems like the perfect opportunity for them to dive into wide release success.
Reports around the deal claims Paramount let go of the rights due to Silence‘s underperformance – but this heavily-buzzed about project seems to be Paramount’s loss and Netflix’s gain. After Amazon demonstrated that streaming services can go for gold with the success of Manchester by the Sea, it’s no surprise that Netflix is getting into the game with what is essentially set to be the mother of all gangster movies.
