Martin Scorsese is about to release the filmatisation of Shusaku Endo's book Silence, but his next project is back to the roots. The Irishman is a gangster film with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as the main actors - and that alone catches our interest.
In an interview with Cinema Blend, the producer Gaston Pavlovich reveals that Scorsese has plans to use CGI technology, similar to the one used in Rogue One and also Marvel films like Captain America: Civil War and Ant-Man, to make De Niro's character younger.
He says: "You don't use prosthetics, make-up; they have acting and the technology is able to have them go through different time ages without the prosthetics. So we've seen some tests and it looks extraordinary. We were able to film Bob and just do a scene. We saw it come down to when he was like 20, 40, 60, so we're looking forward to that, from that point of view, for The Irishman... Imagine seeing what De Niro looked like in The Godfather: Part II days, that's pretty much how you're going to see him again."
If they manage to pull it off, it might actually be really cool. Young De Niro was a film gangster like nobody else, but using CGI is a double edged sword. If it's not used right - it might well ruin the whole experience. Do you prefer De Niro's films now or back when he was younger?