Robert De Niro has famously played mobsters on screen before, and it appears he's ready to dive back in to the genre for Wise Guys. The new movie, which marks the latest collaboration between De Niro and director Barry Levinson, will be based on a true story.
Wise Guys focuses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two Italian-American crime bosses that ran their respective families in the middle of the 20th century. In 1957, Genovese attempted to assassinate Costello but failed, although he was wounded and decided to retire, as much as one can retire from the Mafia.
And according to The Hollywood Reporter, De Niro will play both main men,
The mob movie connections, meanwhile, continue with Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the book Wiseguy from which Martin Scorsese made Goodfellas. Here, Pileggi wrote the script based on another true crime tale.
Such a throwback idea featuring a cast and creative core whose collective age is approximately one thousand years, is a big flag plant for Warner Bros. Discovery and its new executive regime – which has gone on a cancellation spree with projects by younger creators, many of colour and now zeroing on a tried and tested mob tale.