The first poster for director Martin Scorsese’sThe Irishmanhas arrived online. Netflix is spending billions of dollars on original content this year, which includes tons of original movies and plenty of new TV shows. But perhaps no project is more high-profile thanThe Irishman, which could easily be a major awards season contender for next year and is slated to debut on the streaming service later this year. But Netflix appears to be getting the ball rolling when it comes to marketing for this movie rather early, as the first poster forThe Irishmanhas already rolled out.
Netflix hasn’t releasedThe Irishmanposter on any of their official channels just yet. Nevertheless, the poster has made its way out into the world and features Robert De Niro looking like a real-deal gangster once again, pointing a gun at a very unlucky victim laying on the ground. Given the premise of the movie, it’s not hard to imagine this somebody could be Jimmy Hoffa, thenotorious gangsterwho was murdered, but whose body was never found. The poster also makes it clear that this movie is going tounite De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pescifor the first time ever. Hence, this is a huge deal for Netflix.
Martin Scorsesehas been wanting to makeThe Irishmanfor quite some time, which is going to use de-aging technology, alaThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, to allowRobert De Niroand the rest of the stars to play younger versions of their characters. The drama is said to come with a $100 million price tag, which is why it was difficult to get the project made at a traditional studio. Netflix is happy to shell out the cash for such a prestige project.
The Irishmanis based on Charles Brandt’s 2003 book,I Heard You Paint Houses, which tells the story of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran’s career as a hitman, with Robert De Niro set to play Sheeran. The hitman is said to have been involved in the death of Jimmy Hoffa, with Al Pacino playing him in the movie. Joe Pesci is coming out of retirement forThe Irishmanand he plays Russell Bufalino, who at one point in time ran the entire East Coast mob operation. Harvey Keitel is also set to star as mafia boss named Angelo Bruno. Frank Sheeran managed to keep his life as a hitman a secret from his family his entire life and only confessed his crimes to author Charles Brandt before his death in 2003.
Netflix doesn’t tend to promote their movies this far in advance, generally speaking. For example, Duncan Jones’Muteis supposed to arrive on the streaming service next month, but we still don’t have a trailer for it. There’s also the matter of atheatrical release. Netflix typically doesn’t do much of one for their original movies. However, it was said to be a big sticking point for Martin Scorsese when agreeing to makeThe Irishmanfor Netflix. Though, it’s reportedly still up in the air at this point as to whether or not the movie will get a significant release in theaters. You can check out the new poster forThe Irishman, as spotted byThe Playlist, for yourself below.
