One of the biggest deals out of Cannes this past weekend was for Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. Ideally, the mob crime epic was to pair the veteran filmmaker with Al Pacino for the first time and reunite Raging Bull/Goodfellas/Casino co-stars Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. While the former concept may still happen, the latter doesn’t look to good.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pesci has turned down Scorsese’s offer to return to the silver screen, which would make sense if it was any other director than Scorsese. The Home Alone villain hasn’t appeared in a film since Taylor Hackford’s forgettable 2010 drama, Love Ranch, and apparently he’d like to keep it that way.
This likely isn’t the end of the story. One can imagine Scorsese taking a cab over to Pesci’s place, preferably late at night, and sitting there parked outside his apartment window. “You see the actor in the window,” he’d ask his driver. “Do you see the actor in the window? You see… good. I want you to see that actor because that’s my star…”
If he doesn’t do it, STX, who dropped $50 mil on the project, probably will. In the meantime, comedian Louis C.K. has one hell of an icebreaker if he meets Scorsese in passing. He also tried to pull Pesci out of retirement for his latest series Horace and Pete, only he was told “you’re no good” at stand up. Pesci’s a funny guy…
