The Irishman (2019) on Netflix
R20193h 29mBiographyCrimeDrama
War veteran Frank Sheeran drives a truck in Philadelphia and sells meat from his shipments to a gangster. Russell Bufalino takes him on, then sends him to Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.8/10479,798 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes95%
Trailer
Plot summary
In a nursing home, elderly Frank Sheeran looks back on his life. In 1950s Philadelphia, he drives a delivery truck and sells part of his meat shipments to a gangster known as Skinny Razor. When his employers accuse him of theft, union lawyer Bill Bufalino keeps him from naming his customers. Bill introduces him to his cousin Russell Bufalino, who runs a crime family in northeastern Pennsylvania. Frank begins carrying out jobs for Russell, including killings that the men call painting houses. Through that work he meets Jimmy Hoffa, who leads the Teamsters union and has financial ties to the same crime family. Hoffa is fighting with fellow Teamster Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano and with federal prosecutors, and Frank becomes his chief bodyguard while Hoffa grows close to Frank's family, especially Frank's daughter Peggy.
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Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Irishman (2019)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Joe Pesci was offered the role of Russell Bufalino a reported 50 times before he agreed, at first saying he did not want to do "the gangster thing again"; Scorsese argued the film would be different and Robert De Niro also pushed him to accept.
- Scenes needing de-aging were shot digitally with a custom three-camera rig the crew called the "three-headed monster", and color charts, reference spheres and still photographs were used on set so the original lighting could be recreated in post-production.
- The truthfulness of Frank Sheeran's supposed confessions, and of I Heard You Paint Houses, the book behind the film, was challenged by Slate writer Bill Tonelli and legal scholar Jack Goldsmith; publisher Chip Fleischer called Tonelli's article "irresponsible in the extreme".
- The Irishman became the first film ever to screen at the Belasco Theatre in New York City, playing there from November 1 to December 1, 2019, in the venue's 112-year history.
- The film did not play at AMC, Cinemark, Regal or Cineplex theaters because those chains rejected Netflix's four-week progression to streaming, and two chains' offer of a 60-day exclusivity window could not be agreed.
- In August 2015, Scorsese and De Niro made a test reel by recreating a scene from Goodfellas to see whether the de-aging effects could work before committing to the film.
