Martin Scorsese & Robert DeNiro to Reunite in The Irishman

Scorsese and DeNiro together again? That is movie geek gold. My son will lose his you-know-what. The news that the director closed a very big deal over the weekend is the topic of conversation in Cannes today. Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino have been attached to make the real life mobster movie The Irishman based on Frank Brandt's book "I Heard you Paint Houses" for a long time. The weekend deal was the key to get the show on the road. And starts the clock on some very high expectations. DeNiro and Scorsese, an aging star and the man who made him a star, two artists who made such amazing film history together over the years, reuniting at this later stage in life? That story is straight out of a movie itself. 

DeNiro is going to play Frank Sheeran aka The Irishman, a high-ranking Teamster official who had ties to the Bufalino crime family. Sheeran, who died in 2003, made a death bed confession that he killed Jimmy Hoffa. He also claimed Hoffa had wanted John F. Kennedy killed. Adding Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel to the mix is pretty nifty too. Not sure who they'll play.

Here's the lowdown on the book—

The first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran were, "I heard you paint houses." To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors. In the course of nearly five years of recorded interviews Frank Sheeran confessed to Charles Brandt that he handled more than twenty-five hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa. Sheeran learned to kill in the U.S. Army, where he saw an astonishing 411 days of active combat duty in Italy during World War II. After returning home he became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino. Eventually he would rise to a position of such prominence that in a RICO suit then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani would name him as one of only two non-Italians on a list of 26 top mob figures. When Bufalino ordered Sheeran to kill Hoffa, he did the deed, knowing that if he had refused he would have been killed himself. Sheeran's important and fascinating story includes new information on other famous murders, and provides rare insight to a chapter in American history. Charles Brandt has written a page-turner that is destined to become a true crime classic.

I'm so excited I may have to tell you the story about the time Robert DeNiro came to meet a director at the Tales from the Crypt production offices where I was working at the time. I was given the simple task of ordering his lunch. That's a story for my other blog, Sim Carter: Past Tense, Perfect/Imperfect. I'll let you know if and when I post it.