The Irishman, like the Dean Martin biopic and the Frank Sinatra biopic, is one of those Martin Scorsese movie projects that’s been rumored to be in works seemingly forever. The film known as The Irishman (or sometimes I Heard You Paint Houses) - the story of a hitman in the ‘70s who supposedly had a hand in the murder of Jimmy Hoffa - has been especially intriguing, as it would mark a return by Scorsese to both the 1970s gangster genre and to working with Robert De Niro, who hasn’t appeared in a Scorsese movie since Casino, 20 years ago. And beyond that, the film has been said to reunite De Niro with such old friends as Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.

Despite the years of rumors, Scorsese made The Wolf of Wall Street first, and now he’s making Silence, another one on the director’s long-term to-do list. However, there are rumblings (from one of the key players) that The Irishman will finally move forward into production, sometime in 2016.

De Niro, giving interviews while promoting his new comedy The Intern, told Digital Spy that the film, currently referred to by its book title I Heard You Paint Houses, will hopefully go before the cameras in 2016:

”We are doing it... We should be doing it sometime next year. We're slowly, slowly getting it in place.”

The film, should it be made, will be based on the nonfiction book "I Heard You Paint Houses: The Story Of The Biggest Mob Hit In History", by Charles Brandt, which Brandt based off of hours of interviews with hitman Frank 'the Irishman' Sheeran, who claimed responsibility for killing more than 25 people for the mob, including mobster Joey Gallo and Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. As a sprawling tale of the Mafia in the '70s, set in the New York area, this sounds perfect for Scorsese - and as long ago as 2010, it was seen as a contender to be Scorsese's next project. Even back in 2011, De Niro was teasing that the project was right around the corner.

Now sure, neither Pacino nor De Niro is in anything close to their prime, even if they have earned decent reviews this year for Manglehorn and The Humbling (Pacino) and The Intern (De Niro.) Yes, Joe Pesci is 72 years old, mostly-retired, and hasn’t had a memorable film role since Casino, unless you consider 1997’s Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag “memorable.” And yes, those three actors are now at a total combined age of over 200.

But it’s a gangster film directed by Martin Scorsese. He’s made a lot of them, they're some of the greatest movies of all time, and hasn’t screwed one up yet. And after a decade-and-a-half with Leonardo DiCaprio as his primary star/muse, who wouldn’t be excited to see Scorsese working with De Niro again? Of course, De Niro and DiCaprio's Devil in the White City adaptation has been picking up speed of late, so don't count on a Scorsese/De Niro reunion just yet...

The Irishman/I Heard You Paint Houses does not have an official start or release date yet. We'll let you know when/if that changes.

Source: Digital Spy