New York (AFP)

Director Martin Scorsese presented his new film "The Irishman" for the first time on the opening day of the New York Film Festival, an ambitious project that is due to the Netflix platform, more than a decade after its launch. .

Around 160 million dollars in budget, 117 different film locations, 309 distinct scenes, an exceptional cast, a 3hr29-long film, it's one of the most ambitious productions of the New York director's career. , which counts a lot.

Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese began touring the adaptation of Charles Brandt's book "I Killed Jimmy Hoffa" (I Heard You Paint Houses) 12 years ago.

"There were setbacks," Martin Scorsese said modestly Friday at a round table after the screening. "We could not find the funds, there was no way, for years."

"I'm glad we finally managed to do it because it took a long time," said Robert De Niro. "We were lucky to find people ready to put the money."

After the refusal of several studios, it took the financial strength of Netflix to give birth to "The Irishman", the nickname of Frank Sheeran, whose testimony is the frame of the book and film.

The feature film will be released in a limited number of theaters November 1 in the United States, before being posted on Netflix November 27.

A former henchman, Frank Sheeran reports that he has killed more than 25 people on the orders of mafia boss Russell Bufalino and boss of the truck driver union, Jimmy Hoffa.

To the specifications, the production has added a new technical process developed by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM, a company created by George Lucas) the "de-aging", which rejuvenates an actor or actress on screen.

Robert De Niro, 76, was supposed to play Frank Sheeran from 1955, at the age of 34, when he died in 2003 (aged 83).

They "had to find a solution of rejuvenation that does not interfere with (the game) of Bob (De Niro), Joe (Pesci) and Al (Pacino)", explained Martin Scorsese, "that they do not have to talk to each other wearing helmets or tennis balls on their faces, they would not have done it. "

ILM finally achieved its ends thanks to the cameras and without pairing the actors.

After a few disturbing minutes, for whom Robert De Niro has already played, the technical stratagem works globally, as well as Al Pacino (79), who plays Jimmy Hoffa, under 50 years in some scenes.

The first reaction of De Niro seeing himself rejuvenated? "I could extend my 30-year career," he said with a smile.

- Murder and morality -

With "The Irishman", Martin Scorsese returns to the vein of the gangster movies that made his legend, such as "The Affranchised", "Casino" or "The Infiltrates", but with a frame closer to facts and real characters.

But the film gives up a little of the tension that animated these works to take a step back, that of Frank Sheeran, old man who, with flashbacks, takes stock of his life and passes all the sieve of morality.

More generally, "The Irishman" revolves around another key moment in the life of Frank Sheeran, the test of a "moral conflict", according to Martin Scorsese, which recalls the Greek tragedy.

The director also introduces distance through dialogues, with humor more present than usual, which illuminates tasty scenes between the giants De Niro and Pacino.

Beyond the characters of Sheeran and Hoffa, Martin Scorsese says he wanted to recall what were the 60s, a violent time when "everyone was shot", John F. Kennedy first.

Appealing to the present day, he spoke of "the dark forces that exist in our country".

"It does not happen with a single shot," he said, in a semi-encrypted language. "It happens gradually, at all levels, and before you have had time to react, it's over."

© 2019 AFP