The Irishman

Based on the book, “I Heard You Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt, The Irishman covers over fifty years of the life of Frank Sheeran. Rather than casting different actors to play the characters as they age, or resorting to old-age makeup prosthetics, director Martin Scorsese did the reverse: use innovative de-aging technology on Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino. The main approach to pulling this off was by using three cameras built into one, ergo, two of these cameras were infrared, and they were placed on either side of the main camera, which helped remove the shadows and made the de-aging process easier for the VFX artists.
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Scorsese knew that any use of motion capture dots would only hinder the performances, so he instead omitted any use of them to have everyone act on set as is. The only time modifications were made on set for the actors’ faces was by adding tiny reflectors on the faces and costumes that were meant for the infrared cameras to pick up as reference points. Then as the de-aging process went on, the VFX crew spent two years watching reference footage of DeNiro, Pesci, and Pacino’s younger years. The result is a lovely compilation of the successes of Scorsese and the three main actors over their entire careers, one that pays tribute to the old and opens up the exciting potential for this new technology.

R (DLV)
Crime/Drama
3 hr. 29 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY.