Scorsese recreated a Goodfellas scene to test The Irishman’s de-aging tech

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

In about two months audiences will finally get to see THE IRISHMAN, a movie that’s been years in the making from director Martin Scorsese. The filmmaker was able to make this long-gestating project come to life with the use of de-aging technology, which allowed stars Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino to play their characters during several decades across the movie’s story.  Not only did this process come with a hefty price tag, but it also meant putting faith in still-growing technology, and Scorsese needed to be sure it would work by going back into his filmography and running some tests.

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The director revealed during an interview for Empire that in 2015 he, De Niro and Industrial Light & Magic’s Pablo Helman decided to recreate a scene from the classic mob movie GOODFELLAS, and would then use the de-aging tech to see how it would look in action. The scene in question is the one where De Niro’s Jimmy “The Gent” Conway rails on some less-than-wise guy for flashing too many expensive things will at a party.

“We made a little set that looked a little like the original film, and then Bob got going,” Scorsese said. “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.” They all then went back and compared the footage to the 1990 original, and determined, “’This is going to work.’”

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While the boundaries of what the de-aging tech (or what Scorsese calls “youthification”) can do is being pushed in movies like this year’s GEMINI MAN with Will Smith, it’s still a process that’s in its infancy. But to Scorsese, it was the only way to tell the story of Jimmy “The Irishman” Sheeran, which is one that spans decades.

“I really had no choice,” he said. “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.”

People have had their eyes on THE IRISHMAN for years now, and heads really started to turn when it became clear this de-aging tech would be heavily used in the film, and that it would balloon the budget to a reported $150-$200 million range. Netflix soon picked it up when other studios shuddered at the figures, and after years and years, we're less than two months away from seeing what they cooked up. Hopefully, it isn't terrifying. 

THE IRISHMAN hits select theaters on November 1 before hitting Netflix on November 27.