Since the film was officially announced as going into production, we’ve heard time and again that filmmaker Martin Scorsese has been passionate about making “The Irishman.” In a great new interview with Sight & Sound, the director explains that he was so invested in getting “The Irishman” made, even a decade ago, that he turned down a greenlit feature in favor of exploring a new project about a man who paints houses.
In the interview, Scorsese tells the story about how he was working on a completely different film for Paramount, which was about to get the green light, but the passion that Robert De Niro had for what would become “The Irishman” led to the director realizing that was the project that he needed to work on. Oh, and plus, he just never had a good feeling about “Frankie Machine.”
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“We had been playing around with another project called ‘Frankie Machine’ [based on the novel ‘The Winter of Frankie Machine’ by Don Winslow], and that was a good example of something, ultimately, that I realized I cannot do,” said Scorsese. “I tried. It’s a mixture of a genre – I just feel like I don’t want to do genre, meaning a real genre of… I guess the extension of the B film or noirish film in today’s marketplace. And the very fact of the place and genre limits us, and I couldn’t find where to go with that character – in this configuration, in this story.”
He continued, “We had a deal actually, at Paramount Pictures. [The late Paramount head] Brad Grey said, ‘I’ll give you a green light,’ and on the phone, Bob said, ‘Actually, we’ve found this other book.’ And he said, ‘Well…’”
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However, we know that Paramount eventually wouldn’t end up with the film “The Irishman,” and Scorsese would end up continuing working on other projects such as “The Departed” and “Shutter Island.” But the seed for the crime drama was planted.
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It’s especially interesting considering that Scorsese had the green light to make something he was clearly interested in, but he saw Robert De Niro’s love of the novel that would inspire “The Irishman” that it was enough for him to walk away from “Frankie Machine.”
And judging by the end-of-year kudos, even though it took 10+ years to finally get released, the passion project was well worth the wait. “The Irishman” is available now on Netflix.
