Reunited! Scorsese and De Niro's New Project

Because you can never have too many Martin Scorsese films that star Robert De Niro, we're happy to learn that the dynamic duo are teaming up for a ninth time (ninth!) to adapt the mob book I Heard You Paint Houses. Written by Charles Brandt, Houses tells the story of Frank "the Irishman" Sheenan, who in interviews claimed he killed and disposed of Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa. Mr. De Niro, who has already played an Italian looking Irishman in Goodfellas, would take the role of the late Mr. Sheenan.

As generic and derivative as this entire picture sounds, with its Goodfellas meets Hoffa meets Donnie Brasco pitch, we're excited. What can we say? We bow down at the altar of Marty and Bobby! These two haven't worked together since Casino all the way back in 1995. It's about time they found a project to collaborate on.

There is a problem though. When does Mr. Scorsese plan on actually making this film? The prolific director has gone into overdrive since winning his long desired Academy Award. The guy has more projects lined up than Quentin Tarantino has finished films. Mr. Scorsese just wrapped the Dennis Lehane adaptation Shutter Island starring his De Niro version 2.0, Leonardo DiCaprio. He's also been attached to (take a deep breath): Silence, about two Jesuit priests traveling to 17^th century Japan; Wolf of Wall Street, the timely book adaptation supposedly starring Mr. DiCaprio; a long gestating Teddy Roosevelt biopic starring, you guessed it, Mr. DiCaprio; and The Long Play, a William Monahan (The Departed) scripted film about the music industry. Phew! We're out of breath just writing about those films and, amazingly, they all sound really appealing.

So the question must be asked: why would Mr. Scorsese go back to the well that he's been to so many times before, when he could do a number of other, more diverse projects? The only answer we can think of is that he wants to work with Mr. De Niro one last time. And as fans, we can't say we find anything wrong with that.