One of the greatest living directors, Martin Scorsese, working on a new film alone is grand news. But a re-teaming of Scorsese and his first muse, Robert De Niro, is a whole other ballgame entirely. Add to that the mention of Federico Fellini being an influence on this film, being done in two parts, with nods to both 8 ½ and La Dolce Vita. Collider is reporting that one of Scorsese’s next projects, The Irishman, based on the non-fiction book I Heard You Paint Houses, will probably be cut into two films, where the nod to Fellini comes into play.
“We have a more ambitious idea, hopefully, to make it a two-part type of film or two films. It’s an idea that came about from [screenwriter] Eric Roth to combine these movies using the footage from ‘Paint Houses’ to do another kind of a [film that is] reminiscent of a kind of ‘8 ½,’ ‘La Dolce Vita,’ [a] certain kind of biographical, semi-biographical type of Hollywood movie – a director and the actor – based on things Marty and I have experienced and kind of overlapping them.”
This is exciting news for not only Scorsese fans but for Criterion Collection fans as well. With talks about Fellini’s La Dolce Vita possibly being in the world of the public domain (hint to Criterion, please put out a beautiful edition like only you can) and Fellini being a fan favorite amongst Criterion collectors (8 ½ already being a worthy edition as well), this is just becoming even more exciting every time we hear something new about the film.
The story is about the supposed assassin who killed Jimmy Hoffa, one of those unsolved mysteries that tends to make great fodder for crime films and parodies alike. It will also be the first time both Scorsese and De Niro have teamed up since 1995′s Casino, another gangster picture.
De Niro says he’s not sure if this film will be the next in line for Scorsese after The Invention of Hugo Cabret, based on the best selling children’s novel, which was just announced in 3D. Hopefully it is sooner than later. May we perhaps see another Scorsese film in the Criterion Collection? Only time will tell for sure.
Source: Collider
James McCormick
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