Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated new film, The Irishman, will have its world premiere at the New York Film Festival. The movie will open the festival on September 27.
This is the first time that a Scorsese film has opened an NYFF and while Netflix has set premieres for its other films such as The Laundromat and Marriage Story at the Toronto and Venice Film Festival, NYFF was chosen for The Irishman because Scorsese is a born and raised New Yorker and it felt like the right place to showcase, for the first time, his latest film to reunite Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci for the first time since Casino 24 years ago.
The Irishman tells the story of Frank Sheeran, who admitted killing 25 men for the mob, including his friend, the Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Pesci plays Pennsylvania mob boss Russell Bufalino (who according to Sheeran’s testimony ordered the hit). The film is an adaptation of Charles Brandt’s nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses.
Netflix will release The Irishman later in the fall. The expectation is that it will begin with a theatrical release first, as was the case with Netflix’s release of Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, a film that won three Oscars: Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director and Best Cinematography, the latter two of which went to Cuarón. Netflix also paid a hefty premium for the film which reportedly reached $125 million dollars for the potential awards contender.
