Costume designer Powell also participated on the panel, discussing her role in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming film for Netflix, The Irishman, which will feature characters played by Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel spanning several decades, appearing up to 30 years younger in the film. The budget of the film has reportedly ballooned to $140 million to account for the new technology.
“I have to de-age the bodies without technology,” said Powell, explaining that the budget only affords de-aging of the faces and hands.
“I have to make guys of a certain age look 30-40 years younger. I’ll do the best I can with clothing. If it doesn’t work and they somehow find the money to work on the bodies, I’d want to work on the postproduction,” she said, however knowing that the costume designer probably wouldn’t be allowed in the visual effects studio.
“It’s a massive risk,” she said of the process of de-aging these actors that we know so well over five decades. “We don’t know if it’s going to work. We hope it’s going to work.”
“I’ve seen a six-second clip and it’s moved on leaps and bounds from Benjamin Button. The bit I’ve seen looks extraordinary,” said Powell. “It’s completely different. We just don’t know what it’s going to look like over the whole film.”
Up next is “The Irishman,” a very hush-hush project which re-teams Scorsese with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci for the first time since 1995’s “Casino,” and Schoonmaker wants to make it clear to Yahoo Movies UK that it’s no Goodfellas 2.0.
“The Irishman” is not Goodfellas,” Schoonmaker says. “And that’s what they think it’s going to be. It’s not. It is not Goodfellas. It’s completely different. It’s wonderful. They’re going to love it. But please don’t think it’s gonna be Goodfellas, because it isn’t.”
Recently, the trades, talking to Netflix CEOs, noted that “The Irishman” would receive the “’Roma,’ treatment” from the streaming service. Translation: an expansive theatrical release on top of a regular Netflix premiere and very likely a significant Oscar push.
What does this mean for a release? Well, probably a world premiere at one of the fall film festivals, just like Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, played Telluride, the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. That festival barrage was then followed by a lavish treatment of a rare and sizeable theatrical release from Netflix who then pushed it to multiple Oscar nominations including Best Picture.
So, many pundits, including us have assumed “The Irishman” is likely headed to a Venice premiere in late August. That’s been somewhat corroborated recently.
Actor Sebastian Maniscalco, who plays legendary crime boss “Crazy” Joe Gallo in Scorsese’s movie told Joe Rogan on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, “The Irishman” an October 2019 premiere on Netflix.
Additionally, Playlist contributor Jordan Ruimy says he was also recently told at Sundance by a cast/crew member who worked on the film “The Irishman” will be arriving on Netflix in October.
