Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is the Murderers’ Row of actors who have—or definitely seem like they should have—headlined a Scorsese gangster picture. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, and Bobby Cannavale star in the real-life story of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, a high-ranking Teamster who moonlighted as a mob hitman. Pacino co-stars as Sheeran’s most famous (alleged) victim, Jimmy Hoffa, and Pesci plays crime family head Russell Bufalino.
The film has been on Scorsese’s docket for about a decade now, but his cast hasn’t aged a day. They just look weirdly smoothed-out now: told largely in flashback, The Irishman uses computer imagery to take years off its stars’ faces (Digi-Niro also seems to have had his irises turned a disconcertingly brilliant blue). Hope for a Meet the Parents prequel lives!
We’ll get to fully explore the uncanny valley of a Casino-era De Niro and his striking topaz eyes when The Irishman premieres at the New York Film Festival in September; it hits theaters and Netflix later this year.
