Netflix releases an official poster for Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, uniting stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. After the groundbreaking success of Roma last year, the streaming giant is once again expected to be a key player in the Oscar race. During the Venice, Telluride, and Toronto film festivals, Netflix showcased projects like Marriage Story and The Two Popes, both of which garnered serious buzz and are expected to be in the running for several categories. Arguably, however, Netflix's most prominent contender at this stage remains The Irishman.
Scorsese's latest crime epic is one of the most anticipated offerings of the fall, and Netflix has been building up hype for the picture since February's Oscars telecast (where a TV spot aired). Now that the film, and its extensive visual effects work, is complete, Netflix has put together a proper marketing campaign, unveiling a teaser trailer and new still images over the past couple of months. With The Irishman set for its premiere at the New York Film Festival next week, there's now an official poster.
Netflix released the one-sheet today, putting a spotlight on The Irishman's trio of Oscar-winning stars. The poster also reiterates the plan for The Irishman to open in limited theaters on November 1, before becoming available to stream on November 27. Take a look at it for yourself in the space below:
Admittedly, there isn't much to the poster in terms of the design, but this should still get the job done for Scorsese fans. The Irishman lingered in development hell for years, getting passed over by Paramount due to budgetary concerns. Scorsese's been attached to a few projects that never came into fruition (biopics about Frank Sinatra and The Ramones come to mind), so some viewers might have been concerned The Irishman would go on to suffer a similar fate. Thankfully, Netflix rescued the project, and now it's just a couple months away from being released. Just the fact The Irishman exists after all this time and has an official poster from a distributor is exciting; it doesn't necessarily need to be the flashiest poster of the year.
What remains to be seen is if The Irishman can deliver on its potential. It obviously has a few factors working in its favor, Scorsese among them. This century, the acclaimed filmmaker has released seven features, five of which were nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (including one win for The Departed). In his advancing age, Scorsese remains one of the best directors currently working and there's little reason to think The Irishman won't be another memorable offering from him. Fortunately, it won't be much longer until the first reactions come rolling in.
Source: Netflix
