‘The Irishman’: Martin Scorsese’s Film Has Tested Technology To De-Age Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro previously spoke out about the “Benjamin Button”-type technology that Martin Scorsese would experiment with for his upcoming film “The Irishman.” The actor told Empire last year that there would be “sections, earlier periods in the film,” where they would make him and the other actors appear younger than they are.
Now, in a new interview with Cinema Blend, producer Gastón Pavlovich has confirmed that they are still exploring new technology to de-age De Niro.
“Well, it’s an extraordinary technology that we’ve been looking at. You don’t use prosthetics, make-up, they have acting and the technology is able to have them go through different time ages without the prosthetics. So we’ve seen some tests and it looks extraordinary,” Pavlovich explained. “We were able to film Bob and just do a scene, and we saw it come down to when he was like 20, 40, 60, so we’re looking forward to that, from that point of view, for ‘The Irishman’ … Imagine seeing what De Niro looked like in ‘The Godfather 2‘ days, that’s pretty much how you’re going to see him again.”
“The Irishman,” based on the Charles Brandt’s true-crime book “I Heard You Paint Houses,” tells the deathbed story of mob hitman Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, who had insider knowledge about the disappearance and death of Jimmy Hoffa. The long-gestating film is set to reunite Scorsese with his “Goodfellas” stars De Niro and Joe Pesci and mark his first time working with Al Pacino.
Earlier this year, it was reported that the project would go into production as early as the beginning of 2017, yet nothing has been confirmed. For now, Scorsese’s latest passion project, “Silence,” will open in limited release on December 23.
“The Irishman” is slated for a 2018 release.
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