Academy Awards ad reveals future for Scorsese's 'The Irishman,' based on Delawarean's book

More than a decade after Delaware author Charles Brandt sold the rights of his true crime memoir "I Heard You Paint Houses" to famed director Martin Scorsese, a film based on the book has a release date.

Sorta.

Netflix teased the film, re-titled "The Irishman," with a commercial during Sunday's  Oscars telecast. It revealed that the long-delayed movie co-starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel and Joe Pesci will be released this fall.

Since a late 2019 release was already rumored, the biggest news nugget in the film's advertisement just might be where you'll be able to watch "The Irishman" once it's completed.

After being non-committal about whether the streaming service would give the film a proper release in theaters, Netflix announced "The Irishman" will be released both on Netflix and in theaters simultaneously.

It is unknown if it will have a wide or limited release in multiplexes across the country.

In the trailer, which does not feature film footage, viewers only hear a few lines of dialog as the film's famous names flash on screen.

Like the book, the film tracks former Wilmington Teamster President Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, who confessed to Brandt that he killed union leader Jimmy Hoffa. Hoffa disappeared in 1975 and was never found.

Brandt, who turns 77 next month and splits his time between homes in Lewes and Idaho, had long pushed for "The Irishman" to get a proper theater release. 

"My personal dream is diminished if it's only on television," Brandt told The News Journal in 2017. "When I was the age of my grandchildren now, there was no such thing as television. We went to the movies all the time." 

If you're a fan of mob movies, it's hard not to get giddy at the prospect of the "Goodfellas" director teaming up with De Niro (Sheeran) and Pacino (Hoffa), who first shared a scene together in 1995's "Heat."

In addition, Keitel plays Philadelphia mob boss Angelo Bruno, who was assassinated in 1980 by a shotgun blast to the head, and Pesci portrays Pennsylvania crime boss Russell Bufalino.

Bobby Cannavale and Anna Paquin also co-star.

Brandt was a medical malpractice attorney when he was retained by "Big Frank" Sheeran in 1991, helping him get out of prison early due to medical issues.

While in prison, Sheeran read Brandt's 1988 novel "The Right to Remain Silent" and wanted Brandt to write a book clearing him of involvement in Hoffa's killing since Sheeran had been rumored to be involved.

That book never happened, but more than eight years later, Sheeran contacted him again.

And then over the course of five years worth of interviews, Sheeran  — emboldened by the death of some of his contemporary mobsters whom he still feared — confessed to shooting Hoffa to death.

Sheeran told Brandt that he shot Hoffa twice in the head in a Detroit house and was told that Hoffa's body had been cremated after.

Soon after Scorsese signed onto the project in 2008, he enlisted screenwriter Steve Zaillian to transform the 310-page "I Heard You Paint Houses" (Steerforth Press, $15.95) into a feature film script.

Zaillian, an Academy Award-winning screenwriter, has penned everything from "Schindler's List" and "Moneyball" to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and "Gangs of New York."

Brandt was brought into the meetings with Scorsese, De Niro and Zaillian -- including one that was four hours long.

Says Brandt: "I've felt like I was in film school a couple of times."

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).

COMING THIS FALL

What: "The Irishman," co-starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jesse Plemmons, Anna Paquin, Bobby Cannavale, Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano and Joe Pesci, based on the 2005 book "I Heard You Paint Houses" by former Delaware Deputy Attorney General Charles Brandt.

When: Fall 2019

Where: Netflix and movie theaters