HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''The Irishman'' (subtitled onscreen as ''I Heard You Paint Houses'') is a 2019 American epic gangster film directed and produced by
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...
and written by Steven Zaillian, based on the 2004 nonfiction book ''
I Heard You Paint Houses ''I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa'' is a 2004 work of narrative nonfiction written by former homicide prosecutor, investigator and defense attorney Charles Brandt that chronicles the ...
'' by
Charles Brandt Charles Brandt is an American former investigator, writer, and speaker. He wrote Frank Sheeran's memoir '' I Heard You Paint Houses'', the basis for the 2019 film ''The Irishman'', directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Al P ...
. It stars
Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
,
Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...
, and Joe Pesci, with Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin,
Stephen Graham Stephen Joseph Graham (born 3 August 1973) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in the film '' This Is England'' (2006) and its television sequels ''This Is England '86'' (2010), '' This Is England '88'' ...
, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jesse Plemons, and Harvey Keitel in supporting roles. The film follows Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a truck driver who becomes a hitman involved with mobster Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and his crime family, including his time working for the powerful Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino). In September 2014, following years of " development hell," ''The Irishman'' was announced as Scorsese's next film after '' Silence'' (2016). De Niro, who also served as producer, and Pacino were confirmed that month, as was Pesci, who came out of his unofficial retirement to star after numerous requests.
Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...
began in September 2017 in New York City and the Mineola and
Williston Park Williston Park is an incorporated village in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 7,287 at the 2010 census. History Williston Park was founded in 1926 when of land were pur ...
sections of
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...
and wrapped in March 2018. Scenes were filmed with a custom three-camera rig to help facilitate the extensive de-ageing digital effects that made De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci appear younger. With a runtime of 209 minutes and a production budget of $159–250 million, it is the longest and most expensive film of Scorsese's career. ''The Irishman'' premiered at the 57th New York Film Festival, and had a limited theatrical release on November 1, 2019, followed by digital streaming on
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
starting on November 27, 2019. It received universal critical acclaim, with praise for Scorsese's direction and the performances of De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci. The film was nominated for 10 awards at the 92nd Academy Awards, and received numerous other accolades.


Plot

In a nursing home, elderly Irish-American
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
veteran Frank Sheeran recounts his time as a
hitman Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may b ...
for the
Italian-American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its mem ...
. In 1950s
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, Sheeran works as a union delivery truck driver, where he starts selling some of the meat shipments to a local Philadelphia Italian-American gangster known as "Skinny Razor", a member of the Philadelphia crime family headed by
Angelo Bruno Angelo Bruno (born Angelo Annaloro; ; (May 21, 1910 – March 21, 1980) was a Sicilian-American mobster, notable for being boss of the Philadelphia crime family for two decades until his assassination. Bruno was known as "the Gentle Don" due to h ...
. After the delivery company accuses Sheeran of theft, Union lawyer
Bill Bufalino William Eugene Bufalino (; April 13, 1918 – May 12, 1990) was an American attorney who represented the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1947 until 1971. He retired in 1982. Bufalino worked closely with Jimmy Hoffa until 1971. B ...
gets the case thrown out when Sheeran refuses to name his customers to the judge. Bill introduces Sheeran to his cousin Russell Bufalino, head of the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family. Sheeran begins to carry out jobs for Russell, as well as members of the South Philadelphia underworld, including "painting houses", a
euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...
for contract killing. Soon, Russell introduces Sheeran to Jimmy Hoffa, head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who has financial ties with the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family and is struggling to deal with fellow rising Teamster
Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano Anthony Provenzano (May 7, 1917 – December 12, 1988), also known as Tony Pro, was an American mobster who was a powerful caporegime in the Genovese crime family New Jersey faction. Provenzano was known for his associations with Jimmy Hoffa due ...
, in addition to mounting pressure from the federal government. Hoffa becomes close with Sheeran and his family, especially his daughter Peggy, and Sheeran becomes Hoffa's chief bodyguard. After the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy, Bufalino is thrilled while Hoffa is furious. Kennedy's brother,
Robert Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
, whom he appointed
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
, forms a "Get Hoffa" squad to bring down Hoffa, who is eventually arrested and convicted in 1964 for jury tampering. While Hoffa is in prison, his replacement as Teamsters president, Frank "Fitz" Fitzsimmons, misuses the union's pension fund and gives interest-free loans to the Mafia. Hoffa's relationship with Tony Pro, himself arrested for
extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...
, also deteriorates beyond repair when Hoffa refuses to improve his pension terms. Hoffa has his sentence commuted by President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
in 1971, although he is forbidden from partaking in any Teamsters activities until 1980. Despite his
parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
terms, Hoffa undertakes a plan to reclaim his power atop the Teamsters. Hoffa's growing disrespect for other Teamster leaders and his intention to separate the union from the Mafia begin to worry Russell. During a dinner in Sheeran's honor in October 1973, Russell tells Sheeran to confront Hoffa and warn him that the heads of the crime families are displeased with his behavior. Hoffa then informs Sheeran that he "knows things" that Russell and the dons of other families are unaware of and claims that what he knows makes him untouchable, for if anything ever happened to him, they would all end up in prison. In 1975, while on their way to the wedding of Bill's daughter, Russell tells Sheeran that the dons have become fed up with Hoffa and have sanctioned his murder. Reluctantly, Russell informs Sheeran that he has been chosen as the triggerman, knowing he might otherwise try to warn or save Hoffa. The two drive to a private airport where Sheeran boards a plane to
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
. Hoffa, who had scheduled a meeting at a local restaurant with Tony Pro and Anthony Giacalone, is surprised to see Sheeran arrive late with Hoffa's unsuspecting foster son Chuckie O'Brien and loan shark Sally Bugs. They advise Hoffa that the meeting was moved to a house where Tony Pro and Russell are waiting to drive him over there. Entering the house, Hoffa finds it empty and realizes that he has been set up. He turns around to leave, at which point Sheeran shoots him dead at point-blank range and leaves the gun atop his body by the entrance. After Sheeran departs, two other mobsters wrap up the body and cremate it in secret. After invoking their Fifth Amendment rights in a grand jury investigation into Hoffa's disappearance, Sheeran, Russell, Tony Pro, and others are eventually convicted on various charges unrelated to Hoffa's murder. One by one, the elderly gangsters die in prison. Sheeran is eventually released and placed in a nursing home. He tries to reconcile with his alienated daughters, but Peggy, suspecting his involvement in Hoffa's disappearance, has since severed all contact with him. Sheeran begins seeing a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
priest assigned to the nursing home who gives him absolution for the crimes he committed over his lifetime, though Sheeran shows little remorse – aside from his killing of Hoffa. As the priest leaves, Sheeran asks him to leave the door slightly ajar, emulating one of Hoffa's habits.


Cast

Additionally, several actors appear in smaller roles, including Aleksa Palladino as Mary Sheeran, Kevin O'Rourke as John McCullough,
Bo Dietl Richard A. "Bo" Dietl (born December 4, 1950) is an American retired police detective, a media personality and actor. Dietl is the founder and CEO of Beau Dietl & Associates and Beau Dietl Consulting Services. Early life and police career Bo D ...
as Joey Glimco, Kate Arrington as Older Connie Sheeran, Jordyn DiNatale as Young Connie Sheeran, Jim Norton as Don Rickles, Al Linea as Sam "Momo" Giancana, Garry Pastore as Albert Anastasia, Daniel Jenkins as E. Howard "Big Ears" Hunt,
Paul Ben-Victor Paul Ben-Victor (born July 24, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Greek mobster Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos on the HBO drama series '' The Wire'', Alan Gray in ''Entourage'' (2005–2008), and Ray in '' Body Parts'' (1991). ...
as Jake Gottlieb,
Patrick Gallo Patrick Gallo (born February 26, 1973) is an American actor. He portrayed Anthony Giacalone in Martin Scorsese's ''The Irishman ''The Irishman'' (subtitled onscreen as ''I Heard You Paint Houses'') is a 2019 American epic gangster film ...
as Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone, Jake Hoffman as Allen Dorfman, Ken Clark as James P. Hoffa, Peter Jay Fernandez as
Cecil B. Moore Cecil Bassett Moore (April 2, 1915 – February 13, 1979) was a Philadelphia lawyer, politician and civil rights activist who led the fight to integrate Girard College, president of the local NAACP, and member of Philadelphia's city council ...
, Jeff Moore as Frank Church, Gino Cafarelli as Frank Rizzo, and Robert Funaro as Johnny, a Friendly Lounge bartender. Unnamed roles include Jonathan Morris and James Martin as priests, Action Bronson as a casket salesman,
Vinny Vella Vincent Frank Vella (January 11, 1947 – February 20, 2019) was an American actor, talk show host and comedian. He acted in more than forty films often in the role of a gangster. He was best known for the role of Artie Piscano in Martin Scorses ...
as a meat company yard manager,
Matt Walton Matthew "Matt" R. Walton (born August 24, 1973) is an American stage, film, and television actor. Early life Walton was born in Hampton, New Jersey, and attended Boston Conservatory, where he received a degree as a Musical Theater major and a ...
as a TV host, and Dascha Polanco as a nurse.


Production


Development

In an interview with ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'', Scorsese mentioned that the original contemplation of this project started in the 1980s, stating: "Bob
e Niro E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plur ...
and I had tried for many years to come up with a project. This one actually started about 35 years ago with the idea of the remake of '' The Bad and the Beautiful'' and the sequel '' Two Weeks in Another Town''. Somehow we exhausted that." Afterwards, Scorsese approached De Niro with an idea to do an aging hitman story, which did not move forward. De Niro then revived that old discussion and "got the project underway" after reading a copy of the 2004 book ''
I Heard You Paint Houses ''I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa'' is a 2004 work of narrative nonfiction written by former homicide prosecutor, investigator and defense attorney Charles Brandt that chronicles the ...
'' written by
Charles Brandt Charles Brandt is an American former investigator, writer, and speaker. He wrote Frank Sheeran's memoir '' I Heard You Paint Houses'', the basis for the 2019 film ''The Irishman'', directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Al P ...
, with Scorsese saying that De Niro "became rather emotional" as he told him about the lead character. Scorsese then became interested in directing a film adaptation of the book and in casting De Niro,
Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...
, and Joe Pesci. ''The Irishman'' started its development phase in 2007. New plot materials and rewrites caused the movie to lose its place in the film release calendar, and Scorsese went on to direct three more films, '' Hugo'' (2011), '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' (2013) and '' Silence'' (2016), before returning to ''The Irishman''. In September 2014, after years of development hell, Pacino confirmed that the film would be Scorsese's next project after ''Silence''. In October 2015, De Niro stated that the film was still happening and could have started filming in 2016 with Steven Zaillian confirmed as screenwriter. De Niro also served as a producer for the film. In July 2017, it was reported that the film would be presented as a series of flashbacks of an older Frank Sheeran, depicted as recollecting his many criminal activities over several decades, with De Niro appearing "as young as 24 years and as old as 80." Producer Irwin Winkler defined the project as "the coming together of people that have worked together since we're kids together", while Rosenthal said that "what will surprise you is, as a Scorsese movie, it is a slower movie. ... It is guys looking at themselves through an older perspective."


Financing and budget

In May 2016, Mexican production company
Fábrica de Cine Fábrica de Cine is a production company founded in October 2013 by Gastón Pavlovich and specializes in film and television production. Gastón has worked alongside Jerry Lewis in Max Rose, Tom Hanks in A Hologram for the King and Mel Gibson i ...
had offered $100 million to finance the film, and through that deal
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
would retain domestic rights.
IM Global IM Global was an American independent film and TV production company, The company was founded by Stuart Ford in April 2007 and operating in international film, television and music production, as well as sales and international distribution. The ...
was also circling to bid for the film's international sales rights.
STX Entertainment STX Entertainment is a mini-major American entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds, the studio produces film, television, and digital media projects. In April 2020, STX announced that it would merg ...
bought the international distribution rights to the film for $50 million beating out other studios like
Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
,
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...
, and Lionsgate, while Fábrica de Cine closed the deal and Paramount retained its domestic rights. By February 2017, Paramount Pictures had dropped domestic distribution rights for ''The Irishman'' following the announcement that Fábrica de Cine would not be financing the film due to its climbing budget.
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
then bought the film rights for $105 million and agreed to finance the film's $125-million budget with a projected release date of October 2019. In March 2018, it was also reported the film's budget had ballooned from $125 million to $140 million, due in large part to the visual effects needed to make De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci appear younger at various points throughout the film. By August of that year, speculation had arisen that the cost had reportedly risen to as much as $175 million by the time post-production was to have wrapped, and some publications asserted that it might go as high as $200 million. In August 2019, it was reported that the film's official cost was $159 million. However, reports on the production budget have continued to vary, occasionally noted as high as $250 million, with Jeff Sneider of Collider saying: "No one is on the same page on the budget for this film. And let me tell you what that means. It means the budget is ay higherthan any of you are imagining."


Writing

In July 2009, Brandt received a phone call from De Niro that led to a meeting a month later between the two of them, Scorsese and screenwriter Steven Zaillian. The meeting was supposed to last an hour but ended up lasting four hours. Brandt said that "the material was new to them" and Zaillian already had a script ready, but the additions Brandt made required a do-over. To help, Brandt handed over a screenplay of his own. Brandt said, "Zaillian is a great writer, don't get me wrong ... I wanted to log the material." In the opening credits and as a reflection of the writing adaptation process, the final film is titled ''I Heard You Paint Houses'', the name of the novel on which the picture is based, while the title ''The Irishman'' appears only in the end credits. The truthfulness of Sheeran's supposed confessions and the book on which the film was based has been challenged by "The Lies of the Irishman", an article on '' Slate'' by Bill Tonelli, as well as by "Jimmy Hoffa and The Irishman: A True Crime Story?" by legal scholar
Jack Goldsmith Jack Landman Goldsmith III (born September 26, 1962) is an American legal scholar. He is a professor at Harvard Law School who has written extensively in the fields of international law, civil procedure, federal courts, conflict of laws, and nat ...
, which appeared in '' The New York Review of Books''. Chip Fleischer, the publisher of ''I Heard You Paint Houses'', wrote a detailed reply to Tonelli's piece, calling it "irresponsible in the extreme, not to mention damaging." In an interview, De Niro defended the writing process of the film by stating, "We're not saying we're telling the actual story. We're telling our story."


Casting

The casting director for the film was Ellen Lewis, who was also the casting director in four other Scorsese films. In July 2017, Pacino and Pesci officially joined the cast, with Ray Romano also joining and Bobby Cannavale and Harvey Keitel in final negotiations. Pesci was offered his role a reported 50 times before agreeing to take part, at first saying he did not want to do "the gangster thing again", while Scorsese tried to persuade him ''The Irishman'' would be "different." De Niro played a big part in convincing Pesci to take the role, telling him "We gotta do this. Who knows if there'll be anything after?" In September 2017,
Jack Huston Jack Alexander Huston (born 7 December 1982) is a British actor. He appeared as Richard Harrow in the HBO television drama series ''Boardwalk Empire''. He also had a supporting role in the 2013 film ''American Hustle'', portrayed the eponymous ...
,
Stephen Graham Stephen Joseph Graham (born 3 August 1973) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Andrew "Combo" Gascoigne in the film '' This Is England'' (2006) and its television sequels ''This Is England '86'' (2010), '' This Is England '88'' ...
, Domenick Lombardozzi, Jeremy Luke, Joseph Russo, Kathrine Narducci, Danny Abeckaser, J. C. MacKenzie, and Craig Vincent joined the cast. In October, Gary Basaraba, Anna Paquin, Welker White, and Jesse Plemons joined the cast of the film. Later, Craig Di Francia and Action Bronson were revealed to have joined the cast. Sebastian Maniscalco and
Paul Ben-Victor Paul Ben-Victor (born July 24, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Greek mobster Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos on the HBO drama series '' The Wire'', Alan Gray in ''Entourage'' (2005–2008), and Ray in '' Body Parts'' (1991). ...
were later revealed as being part of the cast. ''The Irishman'' is the ninth feature collaboration between De Niro and Scorsese and their first since 1995's ''
Casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...
''; the fourth film to star both De Niro and Pacino (following '' The Godfather Part II'', ''
Heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...
,'' and '' Righteous Kill''); the seventh to star both De Niro and Pesci (following ''
Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir '' Raging Bull: M ...
'', ''
Once Upon a Time in America ''Once Upon a Time in America'' ( it, C'era una volta in America) is a 1984 epic crime film co-written and directed by Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The film is an Italian–American venture produ ...
'', '' Goodfellas'', ''
A Bronx Tale ''A Bronx Tale'' is a 1993 American coming-of-age crime film directed by and starring Robert De Niro in his directorial debut and produced by Jane Rosenthal, adapted from Chazz Palminteri's 1989 play of the same name. It tells the coming of a ...
'', ''Casino'', and '' The Good Shepherd''); the first to star both Pacino and Pesci; and the first time Pacino has been directed by Scorsese. Scorsese said of finally working with Pacino, "I'd been wanting to work with Al for years. Francis Coppola introduced me to him in 1970. Then he's in ''The Godfather'' one and two, and he's in the stratosphere. For me, Al was always something unreachable. We even tried to make a film in the 1980s but couldn't get the financing for it. I said, 'What's he like to work with?' Bob
e Niro E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plur ...
said, 'Oh, he's great. You'll see.'" Scorsese added that there is a meta aspect to seeing Pacino and De Niro interact in ''The Irishman'', saying, "What you see in the film is their relationship as actors, as friends, over the past 40, 45 years. There's something magical that happens there."


Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...
was originally set to start in August 2017, in and around New York City, and would continue through December 2017. Instead, filming began on September 18, 2017, in New York City and in the Mineola and
Williston Park Williston Park is an incorporated village in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 7,287 at the 2010 census. History Williston Park was founded in 1926 when of land were pur ...
sections of
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...
, and wrapped on March 5, 2018, for a total of 108 days. Additional scenes were filmed in the
Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...
in Salisbury Mills and
Suffern Suffern is a village that was incorporated in 1796 in the town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. Suffern is located 31 miles northwest of Manhattan. As of the 2010 census, Suffern's population was 10,723.Paterson, New Jersey. A posture coach was hired to instruct De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci on how to comport themselves like much younger men. The picture was primarily shot on 35 mm film with Arricam STs and LTs, and with RED Heliums for sections shot on digital, with two IR-capable Arri Alexa Minis as witness-cameras for the de-aging. All scenes that required de-aging effects were shot digitally with a custom three-camera rig they called the "three-headed monster." Scorsese envisioned the film as having an "old-fashioned" look which cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto accomplished by using "a series of lookup tables" for each scene. Sherlock summarized the filming approach used for each historical decade depicted throughout the film, stating: "The '50s-set scenes have a Kodachrome look; the '60s-set scenes have an Ektachrome look; the '70s-set scenes have a silvery layer plastered over them; and any scene set in the '80s and onwards have a bleach bypass look, and are also more de-saturated than the other scenes." The extensive production design covered 117 filming locations, 319 scenes, 160 actors, in a story spanning 50 years. Producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff summarized her relation to Scorsese and his principal crew, stating: "I also work closely with the line producer, AD ssistant Directorand DP irector of Photographyon a budget and schedule, and we create a production plan that will realize Marty's vision. ... We scouted a lot. Our prep was almost six months; sometimes we were scouting after the day's wrap, trying to find new location ... due to weather or whatever; it was pretty insane." Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson were costume designer and co-designer, respectively. Speaking about Scorsese, Powell said, "one of the things he said on a first meeting was that we weren't doing the same kind of gangsters as ''Goodfellas'' or ''Casino'' ... These weren't flashy peacock looks. We were doing a low-key version. I mean, there are some obvious mafia types in there, but half of that is the way these people hold themselves." The film had a total of "250 characters and 6,500 extras", said Peterson, with Powell adding that "you need a lot of research, a lot of hard work, and you need to just get down and do it. ... You basically have to sort of divide your brain up into those five different decades, and approach it as if there are three or four films in one. You're filming more than one decade in one day, and that's when you'd have to really know what you were doing." Bill Desowitz, writing for ''
IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...
'', stated that the film had been considered as contending for an Oscar nomination for its editing. Editor Thelma Schoonmaker commented: "Marty wanted to show the banality of the violence ... It's not like the incredible camera moves or flashy editing of the earlier movies. Victims are killed in an instant—often in very simple wide shots. And his brilliant idea of slamming the titles in front of the audience (describing how various mob characters die) was a way of showing that being part of the Mafia is not a good idea".


Visual effects

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and visual effects supervisor
Pablo Helman Pablo Helman (born July 5, 1959) is an Argentine visual effects supervisor. He was nominated for three Academy Awards for his work on the films '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' (2002), '' War of the Worlds'' (2005) and ''The Ir ...
handled the effects for the film. In August 2015, Scorsese and De Niro made a test reel by recreating a scene from '' Goodfellas'' (1990), to see if the de-aging could work. Scorsese said that "the risk was there, and that was it. We just tried to make the film. After sitting on the couch for ten years ..!-- brackets in original --> we finally had a way." By the time the film was released, Pacino was 79 years old, with De Niro and Pesci both 76 years old. Scorsese and De Niro made the decision not to use motion tracking markers. Helman said, "He's not going to wear a helmet with little cameras in there ... He's going to want to be in the moment with Joe Pesci and Al Pacino on set, with no markers on him. So, if you're going to capture the performance, how are you going to do that?" Scenes that required the de-aging
visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...
were shot digitally with a custom three-camera rig. Helman and his team had spent two years analyzing old films to determine how the actors should look at various ages. In March 2018, speaking about the de-aging process, Pacino told ''IndieWire'', "I was playing Jimmy Hoffa at the age of 39, they're doing that on a computer ... We went through all these tests and things ... Someone would come up to me and say, 'You're 39.' ou'd recallsome sort of memory of 39, and your body tries to acclimate to that and think that way. They remind you of it." The extent of the visual effects was made evident when the amount of effects was quantified by ''Indiewire'' stating: "Once again technology caught up with need when ILM developed an innovative, digital de-aging process without facial impediments ... The impressive results put ILM on the Academy's longlist this week for the VFX Oscar ... The costly VFX de-aging, therefore, became the tech centerpiece, with 1,750 shots created for two and a half hours of footage".


Soundtrack

Robbie Robertson and
music supervisor A music supervisor is a person who combines music and visual media. According to The Guild of Music Supervisors, a music supervisor is “a qualified professional who oversees all music related aspects of film, television, advertising, video games ...
Randall Poster Randall Poster is an American music supervisor and a long-term collaborator with Wes Anderson. He worked on the films '' Skyfall'' (2012), '' The Wolf of Wall Street'' (2013), '' The Grand Budapest Hotel'' (2014), and '' The Irishman'' (2019), as w ...
compiled the soundtrack. It features both original and existing music tracks. Speaking to ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'', Robertson said, "This is probably the tenth film I've worked on with Marty corsese and every time we do it, it's a whole new experience ... The music score for ''The Irishman'' was an unusual feat. We were trying to discover a sound, a mood, a feel, that could work, over the many decades that this story takes place." Robertson also wrote the score for the film, although only his "Theme for the Irishman" appears on the soundtrack. Two tracks Robertson wrote for the film that appear in the credits, "I Hear You Paint Houses" and "Remembrance" featuring Frederic Yonnet on the diatonic harmonica, were included on his 2019 album '' Sinematic''. The album was digitally released on November 1, 2019, followed by a physical release on November 29.


Release

''The Irishman'' had its world premiere at the 57th New York Film Festival on September 27, 2019, and had a limited theatrical release on November 1, 2019, followed by digital streaming on Netflix starting on November 27, 2019. ''The Irishman''s international premiere was at the Closing Night Gala of the BFI London Film Festival on October 13, 2019. The festival's director Tricia Tuttle said it was an "immense cinephile thrill" to close the event with an "epic of breathtakingly audacious scale and complexity" from "one of the true greats of cinema." The film also had screenings at numerous film festivals, including: Mill Valley, Hamptons, Lumière,
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
,
Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...
,
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
,
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
, Camerimage, Los Cabos, Mar del Plata, and
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...
. Additionally, from November 1 to December 1, 2019, ''The Irishman'' screened at the
Belasco Theatre The Belasco Theatre is a Broadway theater at 111 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Originally known as the Stuyvesant Theatre, it was built in 1907 a ...
in New York City, making it the first film to ever screen in the Belasco's 112-year history. A 23-minute featurette of a roundtable discussion with Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci titled '' The Irishman: In Conversation'' was released on Netflix on November 28, 2019. A three-part companion
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
for the film called ''Behind The Irishman'' was hosted by Sebastian Maniscalco, and published weekly from December 2 to 16, 2019; there were also three bonus episodes released on January 27, 30, and February 3, 2020.


Audience viewership

According to Nielsen, ''The Irishman'' was watched by 17.1 million people in its first five days of digital release in the United States, including 3.9 million on its debut day. While the overall total was lower than previous Netflix originals such as '' Bird Box'' (26 million over its first week in December 2018), 751,000 users watched the film in its entirety on its premiere date (18 percent), which was on par with ''Bird Box'' and higher than '' El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie'' (11 percent). Nielsen also noted that the largest number of viewers to watch the film in its entirety (930,000) came on November 29, and its opening day demo was made up mostly of men aged 50–64 (20 percent), while they also made up an overall 15 percent of the viewership over the five-day period. Several days later, Netflix's chief content officer
Ted Sarandos Theodore Anthony Sarandos Jr. is an American businessman who serves as the co-chief executive officer and chief content officer for Netflix. Early life Sarandos was born in Phoenix, Arizona. His father was Ted Sarandos Sr, an electrician, and ...
announced that a total of 26.4 million accounts worldwide had watched at least 70 percent of the film, meaning that about 16 percent of all Netflix account holders watched the film during its first week of release. He also estimated that total would reach 40 million after the film's first month of release. It was the fourth most watched Netflix film of 2019, and the fifth most popular Netflix release overall. In July 2020, Netflix revealed the film had in-fact been watched by 64 million households over its first four weeks of release, among the most-ever for one of their original films.


Limited theatrical release


United States

''The Irishman'' received a limited theatrical release on November 1, 2019, in the United States. As part of the continuing tensions between the film markets for direct-to-digital streaming and theatrical releases and distribution of films, several theater chains protested the policy of Netflix for the release of Scorsese's ''The Irishman''. The film did not play at the theaters owned by AMC,
Cinemark Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (stylized as CineMark from 1998 to 2022 and CINEMARK since 2022) is an American movie theater chain that started operations in 1984 and since then it has operated theaters with hundreds of locations throughout the America ...
, Regal, or
Cineplex A cineplex is a multiplex, a movie theatre with several screens, coming from the words cinema and complex. Cineplex most commonly refers to: * Cineplex Entertainment, a Canadian entertainment company based in Toronto, Ontario. Cineplex may also ...
, because the "four week progression to SVOD remains unacceptable to those chains." It was previously reported in February 2019 that Netflix would possibly give the film a wide theatrical release, at the request of Scorsese. The heads of several theater chains, including AMC's
Adam Aron Adam Maximilian Aron (born September 30, 1954) is an American businessman and the chairman and CEO of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. More recently, he became a co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, additionally serving as its CEO from 2011 to 20 ...
, who refused to play ''
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
'' the previous November, said they would only be open to playing ''The Irishman'' if Netflix "respects the decades old theatrical window, that suggests that movies come to theaters first for a couple of months, and then go to the home." Two major chains offered to exhibit the film if given an exclusivity window of 60 days, approximately two weeks shorter than the typical window, but could not reach an agreement with Netflix. The film peaked at playing in 500 theaters, essentially the most possible without the involvement of a major chain.


Other countries

In the United Kingdom, Altitude Film Distribution launched the film through the Everyman and Curzon cinema chains, where the film was shown on about 80 screens, while other British cinema chains, including Picturehouse, Vue, and Odeon, turned down the film in order to uphold the 90-day window that was standard practice across much of Europe. In
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, ''The Irishman'' played on about 100 screens via
Cineteca di Bologna The Cineteca di Bologna is a film archive in Bologna, Italy. It was founded on 18 May 1962. Since 1989, it has been a member of the Fédération internationale des archives du film (FIAF). It has been a member of the Association des cinéma ...
, the same distributor that released ''Roma'' in 2018 and caused an uproar among Italian exhibitors, but no similar protests occurred over ''The Irishman''. The film also received limited releases in Germany, Spain, Ireland, Japan, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The film did not play in France because of the country's 30-month window between a film's theatrical release and its availability on TV and other outlets. Despite all of this controversy, ''The Irishman'' became Netflix's biggest theatrical release both in the United States and internationally.


Marketing

The announcement trailer for the film premiered during the
91st Academy Awards The 91st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2018 and took place on February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AM ...
ceremony on February 24, 2019. Netflix then released a teaser trailer on July 31, 2019, while the official trailer debuted on '' The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' on September 25, 2019. The final trailer was released on November 19, 2019. To promote the release of the film on its streaming service, Netflix took over five blocks of Little Italy, Manhattan, on November 22 and 23, 2019, and back-dated them to August 1, 1975, the day after Jimmy Hoffa was reported missing. The studio spent an estimated $50 million promoting the film, as well as an additional $40 million on its Oscar campaign.


Home media

''The Irishman'' received director-approved special edition DVD and
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
releases by The Criterion Collection on November 24, 2020.


Reception


Box office

''The Irishman'' opened at three theaters in New York City and five in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
on November 1, 2019; while Netflix does not publicly disclose box office figures for its films, ''IndieWire'' estimated that it grossed a "strong" $350,000 in its opening weekend, an average $43,750 per venue. ''
Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wi ...
'' noted that numerous showtimes at several theaters, including
Grauman's Egyptian Theatre Grauman's Egyptian Theatre is a historic movie theater located at 6706 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, California. Opened in 1922, it is an early example of a lavish movie palace and is noted as having been the site of the first-ever Hollywood ...
in Los Angeles and the
IFC Center IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. Located at 323 Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) at West 3rd Street, it was formerly the Waverly Theater, an art house movie theater. IFC Center is ...
in New York, had sold-out showings. The site also argued that had the film gone wide theatrically, it likely would have become a box office bomb given its 209-minute runtime and large budget, noting that another period crime film with a long runtime that opened the same weekend, ''
Motherless Brooklyn ''Motherless Brooklyn'' is a novel by Jonathan Lethem that was first published in 1999. The story is set in Brooklyn, and follows Lionel Essrog, a detective who has Tourette's, a disorder marked by involuntary tics. Essrog works for Frank Minn ...
'', failed to meet its projections. Conversely,
CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk s ...
wrote that Netflix was "leaving millions on the table" by not giving the film a wide theatrical release, and claimed it could have legged out to at least $100 million at the domestic box office, citing the high demand for tickets during its opening weekend (with some reselling for $65–85) and that Scorsese's last gangster film, ''
The Departed ''The Departed'' is a 2006 American epic crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film '' Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-life Boston Win ...
'', made $132 million in 2006. An opinion piece in the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' wrote the film "potentially could have brought in anywhere from $80–115 million" if it was released theatrically, and also contested that the film would lose Netflix as much as $280 million due to its high production and marketing costs compared to limited box office receipts. Expanding to 22 theaters in its second weekend, the film made an estimated $440,000, for a ten-day running total of about $940,000. It then grossed an estimated $1.25 million from 175 theaters in its third week, and $1.2 million from 200 in its fourth. Despite being released on Netflix on November 27, the film expanded to 500 theaters in its fifth weekend, "close to the maximum number with most top theater chains refusing to let their customers have a chance to see it in theaters despite the acclaim and interest", and made an estimated $1 million. It then made an estimated $450,000 from 320 theaters in its sixth weekend—likely becoming Netflix's most successful theatrical release to-date with a running total of $6.7 million—and then $100,000 from 70 theaters in its seventh. Through its eighth and ninth weekend, the film was reduced to minimal theater play. ''The Irishman'' grossed an estimated $7 million in North America and $968,683 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $8 million.


Critical response

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "An epic gangster drama that earns its extended runtime, ''The Irishman'' finds Martin Scorsese revisiting familiar themes to poignant, funny, and profound effect."
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 94 out of 100 based on 55 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Writing for ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'', Stephanie Zacharek gave ''The Irishman'' a perfect score, calling the film "clever and entertaining, to the point where you may think that's all it's going to be" and that "its last half-hour is deeply moving in a way that creeps up on you, and it's then that you see what Scorsese was working toward all along"; she also added that "the de-aging is distracting at first ... but the special effects are hardly a deal breaker, and in the end they probably add to the movie's mythological vibe". Similarly, Owen Gleiberman of '' Variety'' called it "a coldly enthralling, long-form knockout—a majestic Mob epic with ice in its veins", particularly praising Pacino's performance as "the film's most extraordinary." '' RogerEbert.com''s
Matt Zoller Seitz Matt Zoller Seitz (born December 26, 1968) is an American film and television critic, author and film-maker. Career Matt Zoller Seitz is editor-at-large at RogerEbert.com, and the television critic for ''New York'' magazine and Vulture.com, as w ...
gave the film three and a half stars out of four, defining Scorsese as "one of the greatest living, though still largely unsung, comedy directors" and also praised the editing of Thelma Schoonmaker. Benjamin Lee of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' wrote that in the film "there's an almost meta-maturity, as if Scorsese is also looking back on his own career, the film leaving us with a haunting reminder not to glamorise violent men and the wreckage they leave behind." Mike Ryan of '' Uproxx'' called it a "phenomenal film", stating that the de-aging is "pretty good" and "the best I've seen so far", but noted that "if you stare at it, yes, you can see the imperfections ... but you do get used to it". ''IndieWire''s Eric Kohn stated that "''The Irishman'' is Martin Scorsese's best crime movie since '' Goodfellas'', and a pure, unbridled illustration of what has made his filmmaking voice so distinctive for nearly 50 years", reserving particular praise for Steven Zaillian's screenplay, writing that "Zaillian hasn't delivered a script this polished since '' Moneyball''." David Edelstein wrote for '' Vulture'' that " esciplays Bufalino as almost supernaturally focused and watchful, always hypersensitive to other peoples' rhythms. ... I thank the gods of acting that he came out of retirement to do this." He also praised the performances of De Niro and Pacino, stating that ''The Irishman'' is one of Scorsese's "most satisfying films in decades." Writing for ''
TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news website covering the business of entertainment and media via digital, print and live events. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009. Awards ''TheWrap'' has won awards for its journalism, incl ...
'', Alonso Duralde praised Rodrigo Prieto's cinematography and Scorsese's direction, writing that "at the age of 76, Scorsese is embracing new technologies with the fervor of Ang Lee ... and indulging in retro fantasy with the keen eye of
Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...
". Nicholas Rapold of '' Film Comment'', gave the de-aging CGI approach used in the filming a mixed assessment, stating that: "De Niro's rosy complexion as a truck driver 'kid' recalls a tinted postcard photo more than a person, and I can't explain away the same de-aged De Niro curb-stomping a grocer, looking more like the septuagenarian star he is than a ferociously protective dad." While giving a positive review, David Rooney of ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...
'' criticized the running time, stating that "the excessive length ultimately is a weakness" and "that the material would have been better served by losing an hour or more to run at standard feature length." Writing for the '' National Review'', Kyle Smith gave a more critical review, saying that "while it's a good film, it isn't a great one" and also commented that " 'The Irishman''could easily be trimmed by 30 minutes or more by tightening up the midsection." Conversely, Richard Brody of ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' wrote "it runs a minute shy of three and a half hours, and I wouldn't wish it any shorter", and Karen Han of ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two ...
'' said that "Scorsese is so adept at storytelling, and his cast is so unbelievable, that the film ... barely feels its length." ''The Irishman'' also garnered acclaim from a number of filmmakers, many of whom listed the film as one of their favorites of 2019, including
Ana Lily Amirpour Ana Lily Amirpour ( fa, آنا لیلی امیرپور) is a British-born American film director, screenwriter, producer and actress. She is best known for her feature film debut ''A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night'', self-described as "the first ...
, Olivier Assayas,
Bong Joon-ho Bong Joon-ho (, ; Hanja: 奉俊昊; born September 14, 1969) is a South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter. The recipient of four Academy Awards, his filmography is characterised by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black h ...
, Guillermo del Toro, Luca Guadagnino, Ciro Guerra, Bill Hader, Don Hertzfeldt, Alejandro Landes, Alex Ross Perry, Paul Schrader, Adam Wingard, and Quentin Tarantino, who ranked it as his favorite of the year.


Accolades

At the 92nd Academy Awards, ''The Irishman'' received 10 nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Pacino and Pesci,
Best Adapted Screenplay This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...
, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Visual Effects, although it failed to win any. It was also nominated for five awards at the 77th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama.


Interpretations

In his critical comments on the film and after noting Scorsese's many contributions to the mobster and gangster film genre, Nicholas Rapold of the Lincoln Center Film Society interpreted the main themes of the film to deal more with the subject of the remorseless sociopathic and psychopathic killer than with themes directly related to
organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
. After comparing the film to David Cronenberg's '' A History of Violence'', Rapold stated: Richard Brody, writing for ''The New Yorker'', found the film to be a dark allegory of American politics and American society, stating: Guillermo del Toro agrees with Brody: In his extended comments on ''The Irishman'', del Toro found the thematic content of the film and its depiction of character development to be comparable to the films of " Renoir, Bresson, Bergman, Oliveira or Kurosawa". Using cinematic techniques involving interconnected flashbacks and flashforwards, del Toro found Scorsese's juxtaposition of the "ruthless gangster" depicted in Frank Sheeran with his "diminished, elderly self" as compelling depictions of where "oblivion reigns supreme". Del Toro's thematic emphasis, as he attributes it to Scorsese, is the portrayal of the demise of Sheeran in the frailty of his old age as overshadowing the ruthless and relentless accumulation of his criminal activities which defined his more youthful years, with old age transforming Sheeran into a forgotten shadow of his former self.


References


External links

* *
Irishman: The Wages of Loyalty''
an essay by Geoffrey O’Brien at the Criterion Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Irishman, The 2010s biographical films 2019 films 2019 crime films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films American crime films American epic films Cultural depictions of Jimmy Hoffa Cultural depictions of Robert F. Kennedy Cultural depictions of the Mafia English-language Netflix original films Fiction with unreliable narrators Films about bodyguards Films about old age Films about the American Mafia Films based on biographies Films based on non-fiction books about organized crime Films directed by Martin Scorsese Films produced by Irwin Winkler Films produced by Martin Scorsese Films produced by Robert De Niro Films scored by Robbie Robertson Films set in Detroit Films set in Harlem Films set in Miami Films set in New York City Films set in Philadelphia Films set in the 1940s Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s Films set in the 1970s Films set in the 1980s Films set in the 1990s Films set in the 2000s Films set in Washington, D.C. Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in New York City Films with screenplays by Steven Zaillian Irish-American culture in Philadelphia Irish-American mass media