Someone Just Fixed The Irishman's Biggest Problem

Shoddy CGI de-aging, be gone!

by Andrew Pollard
The Irishman Joe Pesci Robert De Niro Al Pacino
Netflix

There’s absolutely zero doubt that Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman was one of the most hotly anticipated movies of 2019.

Headlined by Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, Scorsese’s Netflix project was dripping with legendary star power. And while some may have lambasted the 3 hour 30 minute runtime of the picture, the film stunned on a multitude of levels.

One element of the movie that maybe left a little to be desired, however, was the digital de-aging work utilised to make Messrs De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci look up to 50 years younger than their real age.

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Considering that The Irishman cost over $140 million to make, you have to imagine a good chunk of change was spent on making the film’s key trio look as authentic as possible as their story played out over half a decade.

Despite the budget afforded to this Netflix offering, the end result was somewhat of a mixed bag. Throughout The Irishman, there’s often times where the audience simply has to put some awful CGI to one side in order to appreciate the film’s story.

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What’s more embarrassing for The Irishman right now, is that a YouTube user by the name of iFake has managed to do a far better job of de-aging Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci than the team behind The Irishman’s digital work could muster up.

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According to iFake, this stunning deepfake job took only seven days and was done using completely free software called DeepFaceLab.

The Irishman was a triumph on so many levels, but you really have to question just what the digital FX team were doing to get such a so-so end result with their de-aging work.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.