Now that we’ve all finally recovered from the awesome reunion between Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Righteous Kill (“He squints! He yells! Together they solve crimes!”), word comes down that De Niro and Martin Scorsese are teaming up for – are you sitting down? – a mob movie! Steve Zaillian will adapt I Heard You Paint Houses, the story of hitman Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran. “Pic’s title refers to mob slang for contract killings, and the resulting blood splatter on walls and floors,” Variety helpfully clarifies. “Book was written by Charles Brandt, who befriended Sheeran shortly before the latter’s death in 2003. Among the crimes Sheeran confessed to Brandt, according to the 2004 book, was the killing and dismemberment of Hoffa, carried out on orders from mob boss Russell Bufalino.” Yes, that would be Jimmy Hoffa. Call me a sucker, but I actually have some hope for this one.
What is the complete opposite of a Scorsese/De Niro mob movie? It’s a hard question to answer scientifically, but I’m going to have to go with a Yogi Bear and Boo Boo feature film. Yes, “Warner Bros. is taking a trip to Jellystone Park,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Surf’s Up director Ash Brannon is attached, and the movie will combine live-action with CG animation. I was always more of a Huckleberry Hound man myself.
Elsewhere in animation – or stop-motion claymation, to be specific – Philip Seymour Hoffman will lend his pipes to Mary and Max. “Pic looks at the unlikely pen-pal friendship between Mary, a chubby lonely 8-year-old girl in Melbourne, Australia, and Max, a 44-year-old, severely obese, Jewish man with Asperger's Syndrome living in New York,” per Variety. There is no truth to the rumors that Hoffman has gained 200 pounds for the role.
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Pacino and De Niro Punch the Clock
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