Joe Pesci Joins Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman,’ Others In Talks

UPDATED WITH MORE INFORMATION, NOON: Martin Scorsese is putting the band back together. Joe Pesci has officially joined Al Pacino (whose deal is currently being finalized) and Robert De Niro in Scorsese’s Jimmy Hoffa disappearance film The Irishman. We were told that Harvey Keitel and Bobby Cannavale have been talking about joining the production. We regret the error as we were previously told they were all in.

The Irishman will mark the first time that Pacino and Scorsese will have worked together and the first time all the Italian greats are on the big screen together. The film starts shooting next month in and around New York and will continue through December.

Pesci’s involvement comes after the actor said no multiple times (some say about 50); a deal was just sealed this week. He will portray Russell Bufalino, a Mafia boss out of PA and has been long suspected of having a hand in the disappearance of Hoffa. Pesci and Scorsese have done three films together.

Producers of The Irishman are expected to be Fabrica’s Gaston Pavlovich, Jane Rosenthal, Scorsese, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff. Also on board: Scorsese’s longtime collaborators Ellen Lewis (casting director) and Thelma Schoonmaker (editor). The film is expected to get a small theatrical release to qualify for Oscar.

This project has been embroiled in controversy when the author of the book I Heard You Paint Houses (which is slang for a hit ala “painting” the walls with blood) Charles Brandt penned it based on the deathbed confession of Frank ‘The Irishman” Sheeran. The hitman claimed to tell the real story of the disappearance of former union boss Jimmy Hoffa. However, the account that Sheeran told to Brandt has been disputed. Still, the FBI actually thought enough of Sheeran’s confession to pull up several floor board planks from a house where he said he shot and killed Hoffa to look for DNA (blood) evidence. Latter the bureau said that the DNA samples weren’t from the former Teamsters boss.

It’s one of the coldest cases in history, but there is no statute on murder so it is not closed.

Over the years, many stories about what happened to Hoffa has sprung forth, all to be debunked one by one by one. There are a couple of men still alive today whose knowledge of the event would carry weight with the FBI and who the bureau considers really do know what happened on July 30 after Hoffa got into Chuckie O’Brien’s car outside the Machus Red Fox restaurant and then disappeared, but these guys (now in their 90s) still aren’t talking.

The Hoffa kids, one still in union politics in Detroit and the other a former judge in St. Louis, are still waiting for resolution to bring their father’s remains back to bury next to their mother. They nor anyone else will likely know the full story behind his disappearance, but it is very possible that they will find out where their father’s remains are in their lifetimes.

Pesci is represented by longtime manager Melissa Prophet and Jai Stefan, his longtime producing partner.

Source: Deadline

Excited for a number of Scorsese movies that are supposed to come out the next couple years... especially that "Devil in a White Dress" with DiCaprio..