Martin Scorsese may still be in the midst of promoting his latest and extremely underappreciated epic, Silence, but the legendary director already has his sights set on new endeavours. Along with helming the upcoming cinematic adaptation of Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City, the 74-year-old will also juggle his time with another new movie. According to reports made by Variety, Scorsese will finally direct and produce The Irishman, a project which will reunite the famous visionary with iconic actor, Robert De Niro. It will be the first time the two have worked together on a major motion picture since 1995’s Casino.
Initially announced back in 2008, The Irishman tells the story of real world mob hitman, Frank Sheeran, who was involved with the sudden and unsolved disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. It’s familiar territory for Scorsese, who has a penchant for cooking up some of the most critically acclaimed mafia adventures in film history. While the genre may not be a revolutionary change for the director, the film’s debut certainly will be. Now almost ten years since The Irishman was first announced, Netflix has swooped in to acquire its distribution rights.
This is an incredible coup for the streaming giant who has already debuted acclaimed television shows in the past, but has been lacking with original cinematic content. A new IP from a highly respected director like Scorsese is a big move from Netflix, and likely a sign of more power plays to come. Production on The Irishman is set to begin later this year, and the movie has a tentative release date sometime in 2019. In the meantime, you can check out Silence in theatres now, and look out for The Devil in the White City, which will star another frequent collaborator, Leonardo DiCaprio.
