Martin Scorsese says series format was never ideal for his Netflix film The Irishman despite runtime of over three hours

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese does not believe that his latest directorial The Irishman could have been told in a series format. With a run-time of three hours and 29 minutes, the film is one of the longest features of recent times. Some people have argued that the film’s story could have played in a mini-series format or developed over two seasons. [caption id=“attachment_7451761” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Martin Scorsese. Image from Twitter[/caption] But Scorsese never envisioned The Irishman as a series, since he wanted to tell the story in one go. “You could say, ‘This is a long story, you can play it out over two seasons’ — I saw somebody mention that. Absolutely no. I’ve never even thought of it. Because the point of this picture is the accumulation of detail,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s an accumulated cumulative effect by the end of the movie — which means you get to see from beginning to end (in one sitting) if you’re so inclined. A series is great, it’s wonderful, you can develop character and plot lines and worlds are recreated. But this wasn’t right for that,” he added. The Irishman features veteran actors Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci in the lead. Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemons, Bobby Cannavale, Sebastian Maniscalco, and Anna Paquin are also part of the cast. The film, based on Charles Brandt’s 2004 Sheeran memoir, I Heard You Paint Houses, chronicles the life story of legendary hitman for the Bufalino crime family, Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran (De Niro) and his role in the disappearance of the powerful Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino). IndieWire mentions Scorsese used visual effects to make the actors look younger. De Niro plays Sheeran through his youth and old age, which was made possible with VFX. (With inputs from Press Trust of India)