Next year, Robert De Niro will be back in a role of gangster that will make fans of the Goodfellas nostalgic!
After The Irishman, a large-scale criminal fresco directed by Martin Scorsese in 2019, it was thought that Robert De Niro had said goodbye to the roles of gangsters. It is not so ! The 79-year-old actor, currently starring in My Father and Me, will play a dual role as godfather in The Wise Guys!
The unforgettable Jimmy Conway of Les Affranchis will slip into the costume of iconic figures of organized crime: Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. The feature film will land in cinemas on January 31, 2024.
AN AIR OF COSA NOSTRA
This drama about the Italian-American mafia in the 1950s will be directed by Barry Levinson, director of Rain Man and Good Morning Vietnam. In addition, the 80-year-old filmmaker has already directed De Niro in Sleepers and The Wizard of Lies.
In 1957, Vito Genovese wants to eliminate Frank Costello, but his assassination attempt fails. Wounded and diminished, Costello will do everything to get away from the world of crime and retire. This is the story told by The Wise Guys, whose screenplay was written by a great name: Nicholas Pileggi.
A WISE GUYS STORY
The latter notably signed the scripts for Les Affranchis and Casino, produced by Martin Scorsese. Fun fact: the title of the book from which Les Affranchis is adapted is called Wiseguy. The relationship between the 1990 film and that of Barry Levinson thus seems obvious. Aged 90, Nicholas Pileggi is obviously not done with the world of gangsters. Note that this Frank Costello has nothing to do with the one portrayed by Jack Nicholson in The Departed.
In this specific case, screenwriter William Monahan took up the name of the famous mobster for this feature film, but was inspired by another crime figure for this character: James Whitey Bulger. The latter was the godfather of the Boston underworld for more than 50 years, before being arrested in 2011 after a very long run.
Before seeing him in this dual role, we will find Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. This historical fresco directed by Martin Scorsese is expected for October 18, 2023. We will then see De Niro in Amsterdam, the new David O. Russell, in theaters on November 2.