Final Trailer for The Irishman Reveals Best Look Yet at Scorsese’s Masterpiece
The final trailer for Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is here, and it gives us our best look yet at this hugely ambitious, three-plus hour epic. While the previous trailers have all been solid, this is the most intimate (and most narratively revealing) that Netflix has released. It speaks to why so many critics—and fellow filmmakers—have hailed Scorsese’s latest as one of his best.
When we talked to The Irishman‘s cinematographer Rodrigo Pietro, he told us that he deployed a brand-new three-camera system in order to achieve the film’s marquee effect; the de-aging of its three lead actors. Based on “I Heard You Paint Houses,” the narrative nonfiction book by homicide detective Charles Brandt, the story centers on Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) who, wheelchair-bound in a rest home, reflects back on his life as a hitman for the mob, which included his close, personal relationships with Sicilian-American mobster Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). The story’s 30-year scope meant that Scorsese would be relying on technology so that De Niro, Pesci and Pacino could play their younger selves. This new trailer shows just how seamlessly Scorsese’s team was able to do this.
How did they do it? One of the keys that Prieto revealed to us was his work with Pablo Helman, visual effects supervisor at ILM, and his special effects department. They deployed a new three-camera system in which two of those cameras were used to create recordings of the actors for later alteration. Prieto told us it was all about triangulation, and getting both the main shot and those extra shots that the special effects wizards would alter later, all of which had to be lit in the same way.
The final trailer showcases the final results of their efforts.
Joining the three leads are stars Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Jack Huston, Kathrine Narducci, Jesse Plemons, Domenick Lombardozzi, Paul Herman, Gary Basaraba, and Marin Ireland.
The Irishman is now playing in limited theatrical release and opens in more theaters next week. Then it debuts on Netflix on November 27th.
For more on The Irishman, check out our interview with The Irishman cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff.
Featured image: Dipping bread in wine, known as Intinction, speaks to the shared Catholic traditions of Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro). © 2019 Netlfix US, LLC. All rights reserved.
