Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to Martin Scorsese’s upcoming gangster movie, “The Irishman,” according to multiple media reports.
Starring Scorsese favorite Robert De Niro, the crime drama is based on Charles Brandt’s 2004 book, “I Heard You Paint Houses.”
Production is expected to start later this year and will mark Scorsese and De Niro’s ninth collaboration together, which has included “Casino,” “Mean Streets,” “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas.”
Brandt’s book follows revelations from Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran about the 1975 disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, the killing of Joey Gallo, and J.F.K’s assassination.
A professional mobster and hit man, Sheeran claims to have killed and dismembered Hoffa, with the title of the book referring to Hoffa’s quote to him: “I heard you paint houses ” — mob talk meaning to kill a man, as a house’s walls are then covered with blood.
Scorsese’s long-gestating adaptation dates back to 2008 when it was reported that De Niro’s Tribeca Enterprises and Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions were to team up with Paramount. Al Pacino and Joe Pesci have both been connected to the project over the years since.
Netflix had no comment on the acquisition news when contacted by TheWrap.