Joe Pesci better go get his shine box because he’s reteaming with Goodfellas co-star Robert De Niro in an upcoming gangster movie. As well as Pesci and de Niro, it will also star Harvey Keitel. And Al Pacino. The script is by Steven Zaillian (Moneyball, Schindler’s List, American Gangster). Oh, and it’s being directed by Martin Scorsese. Happy now?
The film — The Irishman, based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses — tells the story of the real-life Irish mob hitman Frank Sheeran, who was hired to kill at least 25 people on behalf of the mob as well as for Jimmy Hoffa (who Sheeran claimed to have killed.) In mob circles “to paint houses” means to kill a man: the paint is the blood which usually ends up splattered all over the wall. It’s safe to assume the tone will be somewhat different from Hugo. The movie was the subject of a heated auction at the Cannes Film Festival, according to Deadline. STX Entertainment and Paramount have reportedly paid $50 million to distribute the movie. Scorsese’s new film is Silence, a drama about Jesuit priests in feudal Japan, starring Liam Neeson, Adam Driver, and Andrew Garfield.
