Robert De Niro to Reunite with Goodfellas Writer in Upcoming Wise Guys Mob Movie

Robert De Niro will once again be working with Goodfellas scribe Nicholas Pileggi on an upcoming mob film titled Wise Guys.

Pileggi, who also co-wrote De Niro’s Casino movie with Martin Scorsese, will work with director Barry Levinson to direct the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film will be an interesting challenge for De Niro, as the 79-year-old two-time Oscar winner will play dual roles as real-life Italian-American mob bosses and rivals Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, sources have revealed. sources to publication.

Wise Guys will have an additional Goodfellas connection, as that film’s producer, Irwin Winkler, is a producer for the upcoming film.

Pileggi wrote Goodfellas based on his 1985 non-fiction book Wiseguy, though the new film doesn’t appear to be related to his similarly titled book.

The film will be the first original feature from Warner Bros. Discovery, and it would be destined for a more lucrative theatrical release, rather than a straight-to-stream release.

The film will focus on Genovese and Costello as they ran their crime families in the mid-20th century.

Down His Hall: Pileggi co-wrote Goodfellas and Casino with director Martin Scorsese, both starring De Niro. Barry Levinson set to direct Wise Guys

Double role: De Niro will play a double role as both Genovese (L) and Costello (R). In an effort to consolidate power in 1957, Genovese ordered the assassination of Costello, who ultimately survived

In an effort to consolidate power in 1957, Genovese ordered the assassination of Costello, who ultimately survived, although his injuries caused him to step back, allowing Genovese to take control before being sent to jail two years later.

According to THR, the chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav is obsessed with Wise Guys and is pushing for a high-profile theatrical release after cutting back on some of the studio’s DC Comics projects and moving away from its previous approach to streaming.

De Niro previously worked with director Barry Levinson on Wag The Dog (1997) and What Just Happened (2008), the HBO film The Wizard Of Lies (2017) being their most recent collaboration.

Levinson is best known for a series of 1980s classics, including The Natural; good morning vietnam; and Rain Main.

True Believer: The Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav is passionate about Wise Guys and pushing for a high-profile theatrical release; De Niro seen with the late Ray Liotta in Goodfellas

Expert role: De Niro had a major supporting role in Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990), before returning for another mob classic Casino (1995); seen with Sharon Stone in the latter film

De Niro had a major supporting role in Scorsese’s 1990 classic as James Conway, an older mentor figure to the film’s late lead Ray Liotta, who played real-life mobster Henry Hill.

Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino also starred, and Pesci and Bracco were nominated for Oscars.

He worked on another script written by Pileggi for Casino in 1995, which received good reviews and an Oscar nomination for Sharon Stone, although many critics treated it as a less successful reworking of Goodfellas.

Subsequently, the film was re-evaluated in an even more positive light.

De Niro also recently reunited with the director of both films, Martin Scorsese, on the upcoming true crime film Killers Of The Flower Moon, which will pair him with another of the directors’ muses, Leonardo DiCaprio.