Believe it or not, we are merely weeks away from Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” from arriving in theaters in November. And for those lucky enough to catch it at the New York Film Festival, you’ll see it even sooner. Regardless, after a painstaking post-production process, including intensive CGI de-aging of the cast, the filmmaker is finally on the cusp of releasing his latest crime drama starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino. But it’s that de-aging that seems to be both the film’s most difficult production aspect.
According to a new interview with Empire, Scorsese explains that the de-aging technology was the most vital indicator that “The Irishman” could actually be made. And apparently, before the film could even really begin development, the director, De Niro, and Industrial Light and Magic (the SFX house that helped with the process) had to get together and do a quick test of the tech.
READ MORE: Martin Scorsese’s Crime Epic ‘The Irishman’ May Clock In At 210 Minutes
How do you test the technology that would allow Robert De Niro to appear decades younger? Well, Scorsese decided to do the most logical thing. He asked De Niro to recreate the famous Christmas Party scene from “Goodfellas,” which was released in 1990, and apply the new CGI tech to the new scene. And if it looked right? Well, then they have a movie!
“We made a little set that looked a little like [‘Goodfellas’], and then Bob got going,” said Scorsese. “He did his monologues and soliloquies and different expressions. ‘Get rid of the fur coat! Get rid of the Cadillac!’ Then he went through a series of computer processes.”
Everyone then went off and watched the new scene up against the original 1990 film. He added, “We all decided. This is going to work.’”
While some have already chalked up the “youthification” (as Scorsese refers to it) as a gimmick, the filmmaker assures film fans that it’s the only way that “The Irishman” would have been able to get made.
“I really had no choice,” he said about the de-aging. “The risk was there, and that was it. We just tried to make the film. After sitting on the couch for ten years […] we finally had a way.”
Will all this de-aging work pay off? We’ll find out when “The Irishman” hits theaters on November 1, before arriving on Netflix on November 27.
You can watch the “Goodfellas” scene, that was used as inspiration by De Niro, below: