Variety are reporting that Martin Scorsese’ crime movie The Irishman has had its budget raised from around $100 million to $125 million. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Ray Romano are set to star in the upcoming feature, which will arrive on the streamer sometime in 2019.
The outlet says that the costly effects, notably de-ageing Robert De Niro 30 years, contribute to the hefty price-tag. Producer Gaston Pavlovich told the trade that the budget is now at $125 million and “could go over that.”
“We quickly realized that that Marty and De Niro really thought that the ageing process was going to be a very important aspect of this film” Pavlovich added. “The traditional [business] model was not going to work with this new vision of the project, and that’s when we entered conversations with Netflix.”
The new budget means that The Irishman will be Scorsese’s most expensive movie he’s made.
Netflix is still refusing to confirm or deny the film will be getting a theatrical release, thus qualifying it for Oscar and other key awards ceremonies in a couple of years.. “It’s premature to say anything at this point,” Netflix’s head of film publicity Julie Fontaine recently told Variety.
More as it comes in.
