Looks like Martin Scorsese’s latest flick, a $100-million gangster film about the death of Jimmy Hoffa, will be released next year not by a major studio, but by Netflix. The Irishman, which stars Robert de Niro in the eponymous role, Al Pacino as Hoffa and an ensemble cast that includes Joe Pesci, Bobby Canavale and Harvey Keitel—which, in the realm of Scorsese mob-related movies, makes it a pretty heavy hitter—was originally going to be released by Paramount, until the production hit a speed bump of sorts.
Per IndieWire:
The movie was going to be backed by Paramount Pictures, but with its 12-year chairman Brad Grey heading out the door, Scorsese’s team put together another package. As someone close to the deal put it, “Scorsese’s movie is a risky deal, and Paramount is not in the position to take risks. This way, he can make the project he wants.”
We now live in a world where Netflix is in a better position than any major studio to make a Martin Scorsese-Robert De Niro gangster movie.
The movie itself—which has been ten years in the making—apparently revolves around De Niro’s role as Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, “a mob hitman [sic] whose illustrious career is today best known for a supposed involvement in the death of Jimmy Hoffa.”
In other words, De Niro’s taking break from playing a funny guy and wearing fake boobs to doing what he does best: being an absolute badass.