Five months ago, director Martin Scorsese appeared on the indie studio A24's podcast opposite British filmmaker Joanna Hogg and told her he was concerned.
In the midst of chatting about their shared regard for shooting in the 35mm format, he said that although he shot much of his gangster film The Irishman that way, there was also "a great deal of CGI" because the decades-spanning plot called for the "youthification" of stars Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino.
"We're so used to watching them as the older faces," Scorsese said, explaining his concern. "When we put them all together, it cuts back and forth. Now, it's real. Now, I'm seeing it. Now, certain shots need more work on the eyes, need more work on why these exactly-the-same eyes from the plate shot, but the wrinkles and things have changed. Does it change the eyes at all? If that's the case, what was in the eyes that I liked? Was it intensity? Was it gravitas? Was it threat?"
Hogg responded, "It's quite complicated."
And so it is. We finally got a closer look at those complicated eyes in a trailer that dropped during De Niro's appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Actor Joe Pesci, from left, Al Pacino, director/producer Martin Scorsese, Harvey Keitel and actor/producer Robert De Niro attend the world premiere of The Irishman. Photo / AP
The Netflix film, based on the 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses, jumps through the life of Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran (De Niro) as he recounts the hit jobs he says he carried out for the Bufalino crime family.
This means we see him as a 20-something, as an elderly man and everything in between. We also encounter characters played by Pesci (Russell Bufalino), Pacino (Jimmy Hoffa, whose assassination Sheeran and Bufalino plot), Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Jesse Plemons and Anna Paquin.
Other than its remarkable length — after everyone balked at the 210-minute runtime, Scorsese trimmed it to a mere 209 — and cast of Oscar winners, The Irishman has attracted the most attention for the CGI that so worried its director.
De Niro joked that the de-ageing process "took a lot of work", but that he was happy "because maybe it'll extend my career for another 30 years".
We, too, are happy, because if you have even a shred of a reason to de-age some of Hollywood's most esteemed actors, you should definitely do it. The world has become a high-speed carnival ride and, in certain contexts, it's best to lean into the chaos.
This image released by Netflix shows Joe Pesci, left, and Robert De Niro in a scene from The Irishman. Photo / Netflix
Scorsese seems to get this, as does Ang Lee, whose upcoming movie Gemini Man features Will Smith playing an assassin who must fight a younger clone of himself. Lee didn't take the easy route of simply casting Smith's rapper-actor son Jaden in the role, because, well, when does he ever take the easy route?
Perhaps they took a cue from David Fincher's 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which centred on a man (Brad Pitt) who ages in reverse and scooped up three Oscars — for best art direction, makeup and visual effects.
The past few months have reminded us of how lovely it can be to see Pitt in his normal form, but there is an argument to be made in favour of seeing him transform from an elderly man technically the age and size of a child, to a child the age (but not size?) of an elderly man.
There have been less ambitious de-ageing efforts, of course, including a scene from Captain America: Civil War in which Robert Downey jnr plays a teenage Tony Stark.
There have been also slightly terrifying entries into the canon, such as the recent It: Chapter Two's decision to digitally alter Finn Wolfhard's face because he grew up too much in the few years between the original film, released in 2017, and its sequel.
It's unclear where the de-ageing in The Irishman will rank in terms of its believability, as the effects featured in the trailer seem to have improved upon what was in the initial teaser. Regardless, Scorsese can rest easy knowing his film's CGI faces will never be as horrific as the half-human, half-vampire baby Renesmee in the final instalment of the Twilight saga. We still have nightmares.
