Will Scorsese and De Niro score a hit with The Irishman?

Heard the one about the Irishman and the four Italian Americans? No joke, as this might turn out to be one of the greatest Mafia movies ever made! Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro could well be reuniting to make gangster flick The Irishman, with Al Pacino and Joe Pesci thrown in for good measure.

“We are doing it…We should be doing it sometime next year. We’re slowly, slowly getting it in place,” said De Niro recently. It is hoped that shooting will begin next year.

The film would be an adaptation of Charles Brandt‘s non-fiction book I Heard You Paint Houses, which tells the story of hitman Frank ‘the Irishman’ Sheeran, who was responsible for the murder of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa, whilst delving into the heart of New York’s 1970s gangland. Sound familiar? That’s because it’s very much the kind of thing that Scorsese built his career on – think Mean Streets and Goodfellas.

As Brandt himself explained: “To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the wall and floors.” Yep, that sounds very much like the kind of thing that Scorsese used to do best, despite never having won an Oscar for any of that stuff, but let’s not get started on that one! Aside from anything else, it would also bring back together a legendary actor-director partnership. It may sound hard to believe, but it’s been twenty years since Marty and Robby made Casino, their last collaboration. No offence to Leonardo DiCaprio, but it’s time to move over.

Scorsese is currently working on Silence, while De Niro’s latest vehicle, The Intern, is in cinemas now.