Robert De Niro Says Martin Scorsese S The Irishman Still Happening

Robert De Niro Says Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ Still Happening

By Russ Fischer/March 7, 2011 10:45 am EST

At a press conference promoting his appearance in Limitless, Robert De Niro said that The Irishman is still on the boards:

I’m hoping it happens. We’re really working towards making it happen… Yeah, I mean I’d never say it if I never fully [meant it, if we weren’t] committed and stuff.

Yeah, I’m planning on it, absolutely. Well, this time I’ll say it, I’ve said it before, its a movie based on a book called, ‘I Heard You Paint Houses,’ its about a guy who says, and I believe [the author of] the book—he’s passed away now—but he confessed that he killed [Jimmy] Hoffa and also Joe Gallo. And so I’m gonna play that character. Joe Pesci is gonna be in it, Al Pacino is gonna be in it and Marty’s going to direct it.

So The Irishman will happen, but it is a question of when. I haven’t read the current Steve Zaillian script, but have heard rumblings that it has some too-familiar notes from Goodfellas. Hopefully the time that the director will take making Silence can be used to further tune the script so that it really stands alone as its own story.

[CinemaBlend, The Playlist]