There’s plenty of reason to be excited for “The Irishman.” The Netflix-backed film teams Martin Scorsese with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci for a biopic based on the lives of organized crime-linked union figures Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa. But it’s the effects that have everyone talking.
Granted, that’s not the kind of phrase you generally hear in the lead up to a Scorsese film (particularly one that unites him with both De Niro and Pacino for the first time), but the involvement of Industrial Light & Magic has piqued the internet’s interest.
Lucasfilm’s special effects wing was tasked with de-aging the leads — in particular De Niro — as the septuagenarian actors play their characters at a range of different ages. The first trailer for the film, which hit this morning, features a notably younger De Niro in the role of Sheeran, the film’s titular Irishman.
The two-minute trailer looks to be classic Scorsese: a stylized period piece with high tension and plenty of organized violence. There’s no release date yet for the film, which also stars Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin and Ray Romano, but it’s expected to appear in select theaters along with the streaming service — similar to Netflix’s award-focused approach with last year’s Oscar-winning “Roma.”