FILM 2123: THE IRISHMAN (2019)
FILM 2123: THE IRISHMAN (2019)
TRIVIA: According to Deadline, before accepting the role of Russell Bufalino, Joe Pesci refused multiple times to come out of retirement in order to appear in this film. Some sources say the actual number of refusals was fifty.
Robert De Niro wanted the film to retain the same title as the book "I Heard You Paint Houses".
Stephen Graham was extremely nervous during the scene in which he and Al Pacino debate how late his character was for a meeting. Stephen thought, 'I'm in a scene with Robert De Niro and he says nothing. Shit!' This led him to improvise in another take line, 'What do you think Frank?' to Robert De Niro's character. Much to Stephen's delight, De Niro improvised the line, '12 and a half.'
The house that appears at the beginning of the film is the same house that appears in Goodfellas (1990).
Martin Scorsese has said that he couldn't get a Hollywood studio to back his epic mob movie, claiming nobody was interested in making a film with him and Robert De Niroanymore. Fortunately Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos ultimately stepped behind the production with a proposed budget of $160 million and the film was finally greenlit.
Martin Scorsese claimed that for one shot of Jimmy Hoffa getting out of his chair, he had to reluctantly ask 78-year-old Pacino for another take, since Pacino's rise from the chair was a bit too noticeably stiff for Hoffa's age of 47 in the scene. Pacino performed the scene again and quipped "62!" Scorsese has said that a unique 'posture coach' - uncredited Gary Tacon - was on set for much of the shoot to monitor the physicality of the older stars portraying themselves as younger men.
Two of this film's stars have portrayed Al Capone: Robert De Niro in the film The Untouchables (1987) and Stephen Graham in the television series Boardwalk Empire(2010). In addition, Al Pacino starred in the movie Scarface (1983), which was a remake of the movie Scarface (1932), which was heavily inspired by the life of Al Capone.
Martin Scorsese wanted the film's look to resemble a memory and a home movie but without the shakiness and the grain of a 8mm camera. Director of photography Rodrigo Prieto used four different looks (via different look up tables) for different periods of time, which according to him, the 1950s had the Kodachrome look; the 60s had the Ektachrome look; the 70s had a some small silver layer, the 1980s until the present day mimicked the ENR silver retention process with a more desaturated look. Prieto added that only the present day scenes were shot on film camera as it only required slight further aging makeup for the actors.
The song that plays in the background during Russ's and Frank's conversation about Frank's tour in WWII in Sicily, sounds like The Godfather Waltz. De Niro plays the young Vito Corleone, who is also from Sicily, in The Godfather Saga. But actually the song is "Le Grisbi", by the French harmonica player Jean Wetzel.
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