It’s been announced that The Irishman will be closing the 63rd BFI London Film Festival. The International Premiere for Martin Scorsese’s latest takes place on October 13th and reunites the director with his screenwriter from Gangs of New York, Steven Zaillian.
Martin Scorsese, comments “I’m extremely honoured to be having the International Premiere of The Irishman at the closing night of the BFI London Film Festival. This picture was many years in the making. It’s a project that Robert De Niro and I started talking about a long time ago, and we wanted to make it the way it needed to be made. It’s also a picture that all of us could only have made at this point in our lives. We’re all very excited to be bringing The Irishman to London.”
The film, which takes place in post-war America, focuses on the rise of organised crime across the country and delves deep into the unsolved mystery of the disappearance of Union President Jimmy Hoffa. It stars Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel. Told through the eyes of Frank Sheeran, DeNiro plays the World War II veteran, who is a hustler and hitman, working alongside the most nortorious figures in the 20th century as the film journeys through the history of organised crime and shows its inner workings, rivalries and connections to mainstream politics.
Of the announcement, Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director says, “What an immense cinephile thrill it is to close the 63rd BFI London Film Festival with the International Premiere of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. British Film Institute Fellow Scorsese is one of the true greats of cinema – as both a creator and a tireless champion of preservation and film history – and here he and his creative team have delivered an epic of breathtakingly audacious scale and complexity, exploring relationships of trust and betrayal, regret and remorselessness, which dominated a period of American history. This is a major occasion for film lovers and I cannot wait to share this film with UK audiences.”
The BFI London Film Festival takes place from Wednesday 2nd October to Sunday 13th October 2019, with the full programme being announced on August 29th.
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