Newcomers: Sports, with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus - The Irishman (w/ Grace Spelman)

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

Q: What do you get when you put Robert Di Nero, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino in a 3.5 hour Scorsese epic about the life and crimes of Jimmy Hoffa? A: The Irishman! Nicole and Lauren are joined by writer Grace Spelman to celebrate Di Nero’s platform shoes, the newest de-aging technology in cinema, and give special flowers to Ray Romano (Spoiler: Everyone loves him). Follow Grace: Instagram, TwitterNext week tune in for our next episode covering Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)!Like the show? Rate Newcomers 5 stars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leave a review for Nicole and Lauren to read on the pod!Follow the podcast on Letterboxd.Advertise on Newcomers via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Original. Frank Sheeran. Did I say that right? Yeah, you said it right. Uh, under the contract, management can only fire a driver on very specific charges. So, you ever show up late? No. Do you have any moving violations? No.

Do you drink on the job? No. You ever hit anybody? any moving violations? No. Do you drink on the job? No. You ever hit anybody? On a job? Yeah. I don't think so. Alright then, we don't have nothing to worry about. I want you to meet my cousin, Russell Buffalino.

How are ya? Hi, nice to meet you. It was like the army. You followed orders. You did the right thing. You got rewarded. A friend of ours is having a little trouble. A friend at the top. Back then, there was nobody in this country who didn't know who Jimmy Hoffa was.

We got a gun! Get the gun out of his hand! You always charge a guy with a gun. With a knife you run away. So you charge with a gun, with a knife you run. Hiya Frank, would you like to be a part of history? Yes, I would. Big business and the government are working together trying to pull us apart. Something's got to be done. What else you say? Now's not the time to not say. We're going to war with these people. War.

Things have gotten out of hand with our friends. You gotta sit down. Everybody says so. No, I'm not sitting down. I can't do it. It's what it is. What it is. I know things they don't know I know. It's gonna happen. Either way, he's going.

You know, I don't care whether you did it or not. That makes no difference to me. Yeah, I know. I'm here to defend you, right? Right. What do you want to know? You want to know if I did it or not? No. What do you want to know? You want to know if I did it or not? I don't know. Oop, oop, oopop it's another episode of

newcomers that's a really good theme song I think that definitely needs to be the theme song I'm Lauren Lapkus and I'm insane I'm Nicole Byer we're so deep in this we're going through the filmography of the director

we've watched so deep in this. We're going through the filmography of the director. We've watched so many of these movies back to back and I feel insane. It's not how they were meant to be viewed. No, not at all. You're supposed to have years between each one. Yes. Our producers are here as well.

Allie and Anya. We're going to do 10 episodes. He's got a lot 10 episodes. You know, he's got a lot of movies. People actually, when they're coming on, they're listing movies that we haven't even

thought of. We don't know. We haven't even thought of, heard of, never. We don't know, but we have the most essential that we believe

are the most essential according to our producers from his long career. So, you know, we can't get to everything, but today we're going to be discussing the longest film of Scorsese's career, which I guess is a good sign because we still have some more to go.

So at least this was not getting longer. Based on Charles Brandt's book, I Heard You Paint Houses, it's 2019's The Irishman. It's available for free on Netflix, so that's cool. And you could also pay if you want to watch it on another streamer. But obviously, we're going to spoil the entire film from top to bottom. It'll take 12 hours. We're so excited for our guest today. Grace Feldman is a comedian, writer, and music aficionado. And also one of our favorite people on Twitter. Well, I guess it's known as X now. And according to her letterbox,

she sat through all 209 minutes of The Irishman twice and then I guess a third time for us. Welcome, Grace. Hello. No, no, no. Please don't have to have three times. Hi, guys. You know what?

It totally hit me that like, you're right. People wait years in between these movies. Like, they're supposed to be years. You want longing. You want to be excited and be like what is gonna happen next we are just like binging like it's queer eye and it's just not it's not as uplifting no no no you know murder yeah a lot more murder wait did you see the episode of queer eye where karamo brought a man in a wheelchair to see the man who shot him and put him in the wheelchair? Yes.

And I don't know if Karamo was equipped for that interaction. And I was like, oh, wow. That was so intense. They're doing that type of shit on Queer Eye? Yes. Oh, yeah. They're pushing the envelope. There's a lot going on.

And Jeremiah Brent is now going to take over for bobby so i'm pretty excited i'm excited i love bobby but he's leaving and they love bobby but jeremiah's great did you watch jeremiah and nate's like their show oh i love them they're so sweet they're so cute do you watch that stuff oh nate burkus okay yeah i know who that is is this you're like friend i only watched the irishman so i don't know who that is is this you're like friend i only watched the irishman so i don't know what that is i watched seven minutes of the irishman every day that's what i've been doing for the last five years well grace what is your relationship to the wonderful marty uh i love love i love a lot of his movies like i think i i think the first one

i ever watched was the departed um but uh when i was like in high school my mom sat me down to watch the age of innocence have you guys watched that one yet no no oh i'm so excited is that if that's not on our list no but but maybe i get why it it on our... I get why it's not, but it's like, it's the Scorsese, and I know this is probably, this isn't progressive, but it's the Scorsese for girls. It's like, it's all about, it's got, it's the whole drama is about like Michelle Pfeiffer is getting divorced. And what does that mean in 1800s society? And Daniel Day-Lewis stands up for her in front of all of these like New York nobles

and Winona Ryder's in it. And it's gorgeous it's gorgeous okay that's a good sell for me yeah why isn't this on our list I know I was like I was looking forward to hearing what you guys thought about it because it's just it's truly like it's like tender is softest beautiful it's great um we failed you we went back and forth so many times it was so hard to choose 10 and that one feels the least like Scorsese which actually now is like

Daniel Day-Lewis sucks on a foot he sucks on a foot he sucks on Michelle Lewis' foot you've officially sold me I guess I'll be putting this on after I need to finish this season and then let weeks pass and then maybe

I'll be able to watch another one please wait before you watch it um but no I do like his movies um like it's one of those things where like to be like I really like The Departed and while Wall Street was good feels very like like film bro but they're really great and I really liked Shutter Island too which people didn't like but I'm from massachusetts so i i liked it um and i watched the irishman uh like you guys probably before the or maybe no not you not the host but everyone else before the pandemic with my mom like around thanksgiving i think it came out around thanksgiving and i don't remember anything this is exactly my memory so it was on thanks. I was in Germany on Thanksgiving of 2019. And I had sushi and had terrible food poisoning.

And I was vomiting and pooping. And then my husband was going to watch The Irishman while I was doing that. And so my memory of The Irishman is that I would come crawling out of the bathroom. And I'd be like, it's still on. And then I would be like, I'd lay in the bed and I'd be like, I'd like wake up a little bit like it's still on. Like it was like it literally was like he watched it for 24 hours. I know it was three and a half hours long, but it was the longest three and a half hours because I was so ill. I didn't see The Irishman when it came out, obviously.

But John Millhiser watched it he lived with me and somehow I avoided watching it when he watched it and then his parents came for Thanksgiving and they were staying with us and he put it on for his mother and I was like I don't think your mom wants to watch that and then every 20 minutes she came in the kitchen being like this movie's still not done and John would be like yes okay so go back and watch it and i was like you're punishing your mother she doesn't want this life i mean yeah that's honestly so then now what are we feeling after we've seen it now nicole how just a quick brief just to jump us into this okay what do you feel i will say i really liked how like I paint houses or whatever was like I like how that I

heard your paint houses yeah yeah that's an insane way to say that but I like that that hooked me I like the music and then I was into it for the first like 20 minutes to 40 minutes. And then I was like, okay, okay, okay. And then it was just so long. And then the end, I liked the back end. The middle was like a little like not meandering, but I was like, wait,

what's going on again? And I kind of kept zoning out and I tried really hard not to be on my phone, but I kept zoning out and being like, Oh wait, I'm watching a movie. And then, you know, every time Joe Pesci was on the screen, got so happy he's great I had you'll go ahead oh I was gonna say I had a hard time with my phone too I had to watch a portion of it in the bath

because like on my laptop oh no I took it to the bathroom with me I was I was carrying the iPad around my house while I was doing activities so I like, if I just sit still for three and a half hours, I won't get anything done. I have things I have to do. And I do want to watch it, but it is possible to do laundry while you watch this movie, I will say. And dishes.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. You can do other things. It's very long. And that is important. Okay. We have said this about many films that we've watched over the course of this this whole this whole podcast i mean we've watched marvel movies that are three hours long

we've watched a lot of things that are very long this is so long there's a lot about it that i liked and it was reminding me of the older stuff that i loved and then i was going wait why why why is it going like and then i all my other thing that I really can't wait to talk about is the de-aging process. Yes. I want to know more about that. But it was fascinating. The de-aging process, I was screaming when he like,

when that man like hit his daughter or whatever, and then he went to go beat him up. And I was like, this is a old man beating this, just an old Robert De Niro. And I said, did you not love that scene? I love that. I did love that scene,

but I was like, get a body double. We're far enough away. This is the thing. Well, here's what I was so intrigued by, because I was like, so in like good fellows,

which we loved, he plays Ray Liotta's in multiple different ages. And you're like, we can go, that's what movies are. We can believe this other actor is him when he was 12 this is him when he's 20 it's like yeah we get it i think because the technology arrived it was like oh we should just de-age but then there's a part with um was it joe pesci's wife or somebody else's wife where they where the character is a different actor. And it's like, well then why did we do that with that guy?

Cause it was too hard. Boys have to play. And who gives a shit about a woman? I know, but it was, it was very, very interesting. So I can't wait to get more into that, but let's start with our segment spot.

Wait, wait, first I want to say this. I feel like Scorsese really embraces filmmaking of the time even if he's doing period pieces because gangs of new york is so 2000s and then this movie is so like of now and then goodfellas is very 80s because or yeah 90s or whatever um and i was just like oh it, it's so interesting that his films really do capture the era that they were shot in

and the era they're meant to be in in a very interesting way. That's why I like him. He's like a tiny old man who feels so young in the way that he makes stuff. Because I wanted to know about the de-aging too,

so I watched a video and I guess some guy went up to Marty and was like, we have this new technology. It's for de-aging and we use it for Star Wars and stuff and Marty was just like sure I'll try it or whatever which seems like you know for a guy who's been around for so long and has made so many great movies you'd think he'd be like no we're doing it my way we're doing it

Marty's way or whatever uh but then he just he like used it I mean do I think it worked not all the time it didn't work because it just simply didn't work but i do feel that it's i like i agree i agree with you that i thought it was really cool that he's down to try new things and also i read that al pacino's performance was entirely cgi which doesn't make any sense to me i need to know what that means what this is some some well maybe it's just a blurb let's get some facts yeah get some facts in here yeah i'll let anya and ali google that so i don't talk while okay things but we'll get back to that so okay this is our little segment called spotted where we see if this movie has any of the following celeb sightings do we get

one of marty's boys do we get robert de niro doy harvey kytel no wait yes yes yes and he looked good i said yum yum yum honestly i will it's insane but like yes this movie was three hours yes the acting is great but i was like my men are in here we got harvey i didn't realize that was him yes he looked good i wonder if they de-aged him he looks cool um do we get joe pesci yes when he was sleeping in that car i said i wish i was driving with him and my little girl was sleeping next to me and when he was really old i really liked what he was doing i thought his acting was great when at the end when he's like yes um leonardo dicaprio no no and that's coming next for us i believe but it's coming for us do we get marty's mom katherine squires as he i don't think so no yeah no and then we get marty himself we often miss him as we miss him all the time i was looking for him in this and i couldn't

find him but i don't know but then it was so long, I probably forgot too. Yeah, is he? Realizing in real time that Catherine Scorsese passed on in 1997, so we should probably stop. Oh, no. R.I.P. I know. Oh, okay.

Well, that's sad. So did we get Marty in this movie? I don't think any of us caught him if he was appearing on screen. I hope he was running in the background and we just like missed him zipping. He was like, gotta catch me. So this is interesting. The film marked the ninth collaboration between Scorsese and De Niro. In addition to Scorsese's fourth collaboration with Joe Pesci,

his first with Al Pacino, the fourth between Pacino and De Niro, and the first between Pacino and Pesci. Oh. Oh. So they, I mean, that's really exciting. I always think this is so cute how they get to do all these things together. It's so fun.

And then it was the first time Pacino and Pesci worked together. That's interesting. That is interesting oh yeah well they had a great time i assume well then it makes me think it wasn't cgi i but there was something something i read something about that so let's let's see if there's any wait have you guys seen the behind the scenes photo of them in their different height shoes? No. Oh my God. Can we, can you guys,

I have, okay. I looked at it yesterday. If we can, I need you guys to see it. It is so funny. Cause I guess, um,

what's whoever, what is his ass? Uh, whoever Pacino played a short in real life. So, um, De Niro had to wear these like giant shoes and there's a picture of them standing next to each other.

I'm looking at this. This is hilarious. They look so funny yeah they look insane i don't know why he's standing i've only seen those used on stand-ins yeah same one like they have to match the height of the actor but that's so funny that he's just wearing those in the scene that's like not easy to walk in no for an older man wearing platforms all of a sudden. He looks so emo. He does. He looks like it's his style.

And you're like, oh. These are so funny. So funny. Oh, my. I'm truly, I'm simply about to pass away. I love it. Okay, well, let's take a quick break and then we'll jump deep into the irishman we're back uh the irishman was released november 1st in 2019 in theaters and november 27th 2019

on netflix written by that by actually kind of interesting. Isn't it? That was before the pandemic, but they were just immediately putting it on Netflix. Like I feel like the pandemic was what changed a lot of that model, but maybe that was like something too. Well, I think since it was on Netflix,

Netflix was like slowly doing theater releases and then pivoted back to be like, no, no, we're Netflix. You stay at home. Yeah. to streaming and a lot of major theater chains were like then we do not want this movie because we're not going to make our money back and so it was like a big issue for them but obviously Netflix got what they wanted I can't imagine sitting through that in the theater I mean that's so long you're going to have to show me some car crashes

or sex or something for me to stay in there for three hours yeah I agree three and a half three and a half really it's long that's just i just was like it's a mini series yeah break it up i wonder no they absolutely didn't but i was like in theaters they should have had like a cute little intermission i know well i always remember with titanic that there was an intermission at my theater and people love to tell me this wasn't true but i'm like it really happened are you sure I always remember with Titanic that there was an intermission at my theater. And people love to tell me this wasn't true.

But I'm like, it really happened. Are you sure? Because on the VHS, it's a two VHS-er. So there is an intermission when you watch it at home on VHS. I remember the theater I was at. And I remember going back in after. I swear to God. somebody out there is going to say this happened i feel like it did it was long it is it is such a long movie but it's such a wonderful love story it is and when they fuck in that car and it's all steamy i said It's a, ooh-wee. The hand. That's the heart. Yes. Yeah. So the Irishman was written by Steve Zaliani.

Okay, so the film opens in the early 2000s in a retirement home where Frank Shearer and Robert De Niro reflects on his life as a mob hitman. I'm kind of in at this point. I'm going, I didn't think that's what it was going to be about at all from what I heard when I was like throwing up and stuff. So I was like, oh, stuff. So I was like, oh, okay, it's kind of like these other ones, which

I was like missing from the path we've been on. So we flash back to Pennsylvania in the 50s with Frank, a World War II vet working as a truck driver for a meatpacking company. He starts to rub elbows with local gangster Felix Skinny Razor DiTullio

and Bobby Cannavale who I love. Ooh love love love. And he begins selling some of his meat products to him on the side when his boss is accusing him of stealing Sheeran seeks the help of lawyer Bill Buffalino Ray Romano. Who's great in this. So good. Did a great job. I was really like. Everybody loves

Raymond. Everyone. Wait a second. I just got an idea. This. Wait a second. I just got an idea. This could be worth something. Buffalo gets the case thrown out when Sheeran refuses to give up names to the judge.

Weren't you shocked by Ray's performance? I was. Yes. He's legit. We don't see him do this kind of stuff. No.

Give people a chance. Give Ray. Give Ray Romano a chance. I loved. I loved him. All right. But I have a question are you guys also like me I noticed like the first 17 minutes of this movie he says like 32 different names like are you also like me where like when people just say like a lot of like names at you you're like oh my god wait what you know like it's true it started I was like oh my god I'm gonna be so bad at watching this because he says 1800 people so quickly there was no part of me that was working to keep track of them no i i also let it wash over me and said this is this is what it is it's a lot of information yeah okay also does

it start with a voiceover and then de niro starts talking yeah i think so there's a lot of narration i mean i i also was like we were talking with griffin newman who mentioned that like martin scorsese says that he doesn't write plot he just like show like it's just like showing like the best parts or something and the narration does so much of the plot because it's truly like just explaining and being aware of that is so interesting as you're watching this because it's like oh yeah like the scene is actually silent it's like two people like moving through a space but like the narration is telling me that guy always wished he was this and this guy did this and that but you know you get which i like i'm liking i like the tool but it's really interesting that he's yeah so much

i liked the beginning of this i was immediately captivated yeah bobby captivated Kaptabated. Bobby Kaptabated. So Bill introduces Sheeran to his cousin, Russell Bullifan. So that's my Joe Pesci, head of the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family. I'm like smiling like I'm proud of it. Sheeran starts working for Russell and other members of the Pennsylvania mafia, carrying out jobs, including quote unquote, painting houses, a euphemism for contract killing. Had you ever heard that?

I have never heard that phrase at all. No, no, me neither. No. And I'm like, he's like, I used to,

I was young and naive. I thought being a house painter meant you painted houses. I was like, I still think that. Where are you going with this? I mean, yeah. If they hadn't have shown that shot of the blood on the wall,

I would have been like, where's the paint? When are we going to start painting? So what does he do for a living? Oh, wait. I just want to go back. I really like the scene where he is delivering the meats or whatever. And then the guy opens it and he's like, there's no meat. And he's like, yeah, there's no meat.

I guess the guys didn't do their job. I don't know why you're looking at me. And he's like, the truck didn't feel different. He's like, no the guys didn't do their job i don't know why you're looking at me and he's like the truck didn't feel different he's like no i didn't feel no different and i i don't know why i was really comforted by the way everybody talked in this yes yes i agree i i i thought there was a lot of really fun stuff i mean later we get to the stuff with um uh what's his name the guy who's married to kirsten dunst kirsten dunst uh jesse plemmons yeah who i love and he's he's such a good actor and i love that whole story with him it's so fun and that but that's a whole new movie that's like

that's like hour three and i'm like it's okay and then okay so here's where this is it this was catching my ear because i was going like okay this is familiar a little bit sharon is soon introduced to jimmy hoffa al pac So I, there's a Jimmy Hoffa reference from some 90s movie where, is it like? Oh, is it clueless? I'm gonna put a, they're gonna try to, it's like he's threatening the Christian who's taking Cher out.

And he's like, something, Jimmy Hoffa won't find you. Is it clueless? But I think the quote is something about Jimmy, they, I think I got it wrong. I shouldn't have spoken. Is it clueless? But I think the quote is something about Jimmy. I think I got it wrong. I shouldn't have spoken. I'm sure that is true. And I think there's another movie I'm thinking of that could be something like Encino Man

or like Airheads or something where they like exhume Jimmy Hoffa or like Wayne's World or something. Like there's like, we found him. We found Jimmy Hoffa or something. Somebody out there will tell me what I'm talking about anyway but that's this name i it's like i knew that there was i knew that this character and this real person is like missing at some point there's a mystery surrounding his so i was teased by that al pacino is jimmy hoffa so he's the head of the international

brotherhood of teamsters union who has financial ties with the Northeastern Pennsylvania mob family. Did you find it on you? Yeah. What is it? Sorry. It's gonna be so stupid. It's Bruce Almighty. Oh, no. That was like the one of two DVDs my family owned growing up that and Spinal Tap. So I have to know what is the full quote? So the titular character uses powers endowed by God to manifest Hoffa's body in order to procure a story interesting enough to reclaim his career in the news industry. Oh, my God. Thank you so much. I remember that. Yeah.

And honestly, I'm shocked. So Hoffa has issues with fellow rising teamster Anthony Tony Pro Provenzano, who's Stephen Graham, and is facing mounting pressure from the federal government. Hoffa becomes close with Sheeran and his family, especially his daughter Peggy, Lucy Galena. In turn, Sheeran becomes his chief bodyguard. So, how old is Jimmy Hoffa supposed to be? And what is Al Pacino playing here? Like, do we know? know yeah i don't know okay so he al pacino as jimmy hoffa was a complete cg performance this is what it says

he starts at age 44 and ends at 62 so i guess he was older than that to begin with on all of that oh so they're saying that they're that at no point they do-aged him yeah so i think saying it's a cg performance makes it sound like he's a hologram he's yeah like the polar express he wasn't there if he was the polar express style uncanny valley it's like yeah his was actually really good i thought yes like i because i didn't you weren't thinking about it but you know the robert de niro stuff was hard because there's a point where he's de-aged and then joe pesci's like I thought. Yes. Because I didn't notice it. You weren't thinking about it. No. But you know, the Robert De Niro stuff was hard because

there's a point where he's de-aged and then Joe Pesci's like, hey kid. And I'm like, he's not That's not a kid. in any way,

shape, or form a child. Like, or even, it doesn't even seem younger than you. So like, and he's like,

you're like my kid. And it's like, why? He's 70. Yeah. It was weird. And then, when his face was young his old man body just moving around it really just took me out of it it's really tough because it's like you yes it could be a different actor but then i'm like but that's a lot of the movie and so

if we're telling the story i want robert de niro but you know what because i did all when i did look into the camera thing they had someone and this and this is to show, I mean, I guess how effective it was. They had someone on set who was like a body language expert being like, you need to get out of the chair faster. Like there was a scene where De Niro was coming down the stairs and they were like, you need to, you're 65. You should be going faster down the stairs. And then, and then I guess like that. Yeah. So I just know that cause I literally read it yesterday. That's really interesting. Like all the ways, cause it's so subtle. Like when you're watching it, you're like, you i just know that because i literally read it yesterday that's really interesting like all the ways because it's so subtle like when you're watching it you're like you can just tell that they're older but you're not sure exactly what it is and so to be like someone who's an expert in that like at that age you can skip two steps like

at that age you could be on a trampoline for 20 minutes. After the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy, Bufalino is thrilled while Hoffa is furious. Kennedy's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, Jack Hudson, whom is appointed attorney general, gets a get Hoffa squad to bring down Hoffa, who's eventually arrested and convicted in 1964 for jury tampering.

Again, John F. Kennedy, that stuff, I feel like we're two hours in. I mean, I think this is good for us that the plot is not being... Yes, is moving along. But also, these are the highlights. I mean, there's a long period where we're kind of just getting like general life. Yeah, we go bowling at one point. Oh, yes. Yes, we go to that birthday party

yeah and then so what's the story with so joe pesci is like kind of obsessed with getting the approval of robert giannaro's daughter yeah it feels like he's like like trying to have some sort of relationship like a fatherly relationship i'm like why that was weird to me too like why you're you're a crime guy like what is this if he gives her a present at one point and then the dad's like say thank you and she's like thanks and then he's like there's more in there from santa and you know what i think there's a line uh because i would look at my phone and then i would go fuck i wasn't listening and then i would have to rewind it so i heard a lot of lines like more than once

relatable yeah um i think that like joe pesci's kids of all are all older now and so like he's like you know how like when you know grand grandparents like are into little kids because they're they don't have little kids anymore i think that's what it is okay that makes sense but still weird to be like i need the approval of this small girl child i know and then so then when that girl is so the the scene we were mentioning before where like she gets like manhandled at the deli by like the guy i don't know what she did and then robert jr goes and kicks his ass it's such a fun that's like what i love about these movies yes is this like he gets filled with rage.

He's like, I'm going to go show him what's up. And then he goes and pulls the guy out through the glass door. Yes. Bash steps on his hand until he's like crying. Like it's like, and the girl's just watching. And she doesn't even like it. She hates him for it. She's like, dad, no.

Also, when he goes in, the guy was like like she deserved it or something and i was like yeah well that's not how i would start this interaction if someone's coming at me like that yeah no i was sorry yeah i was like what mayhem can a girl that small cause in like a meat shop or whatever i know i'm like she stole a candy bar i don't know um so hoffa's in prison his replacement as teamsters president misuses the union's pension fund and gives interest-free loans to the mob hoffa's relationship with tony pro himself arrested for extortion also deteriorates beyond repair when hoffa refuses to help restore his forfeited pension hoffa's sentence is commuted by president richard nixon in 1971 although he

is forbidden from partaking in any Teamsters activities until 1980. Right. This is like the middle part when they're both in jail, right? And they're like... Yeah. Yes. I think so. Mm-hmm. Yeah. This was a lot. This whole chunk of the movie, I was like,

oh, boy. I could never have explained that to you no not at all but whenever they like whenever they you know when I saw JFK being shot I was like okay I know what that is you know like Bay of Pigs I know what that is like or whatever these are historical moments historical moments of like time passing and it is interesting um but yeah I wasn't sure about all the like loans and all the things happening and then they're building like a hotel at some point and they're like come on just let us build it or whatever yeah there's a lot you like it right yeah but then they go to florida

then they go somewhere hot i liked that scene do you guys know the scene that's what i will say is like there's like a lot of like cut to him you know getting on a truck cut to this plane flying out of cuba but then they would have that like scene where they're in Florida or wherever they're hot. And it's like a long dinner scene. And it's like just slow talking. I was wrapped for that. I was like, oh, I'm listening for that part. I love all of those moments.

I mean, there's so much good acting in these movies that it does like really captivate you. Even when you're like, why is this part happening? Yeah. It's like. Yeah. I'd be confused and then be like, wait, how did we get here? Then I have to rewind it a little bit. And then I was like, I don't have time to rewind.

I have. It is work. I was like, we have schedules, you know. Yes. This isn't me watching it just leisurely at night. For fun. But yeah, I was like, we have schedules, you know? Yes. This isn't me watching it just leisurely at night. Not for fun. But yeah, I was like, wait, what? But then I was like, oh, I like it.

And I love the way Scorsese, I guess he must shoot like cross coverage because people interrupt and like things aren't lost and it just feels so fucking natural. And I love that. I agree. So ignoring the terms of his parole, Hoffa reclaims his spot at the top of the Teamsters union.

His growing disrespect for other Teamster leaders and his intention to separate the union from the mafia begin to worry Russell. During a dinner in Sheeran's honor in October 1973, Russell tells Sheeran to comfort Hoffa. Confront. Confront Hoffa or no confront confront Hoffa he wanted to give Hoffa

a big ol' hug and a kiss and warn him that the heads of the crime families aren't happy with him Hoffa informs Sheeran that he knows things and that Russell and the Dons of the other families are unaware of that and if anything happens to him,

that they would all end up in prison. I like this whole chunk. This chunk was fun. This is when I was like, oh, they're going to kill him. This is when I was like, okay, now I'm watching because I know he's going to die in the next probably 10 or 15 minutes. And that felt like what we want out of this.

But maybe we had to earn the first two hours of watching it to care. Is this the scene where, I mean, one of the scenes where Hoffa is like, I'm the president. It's mine. It's my union. Right.

Is that in that chunk or is that later? I think it's like at the big dinner for Robert De Niro's character. Maybe. I just watched this and I'm very I'm like wait when did things

it was well no yeah it blurs it blurs you it was my whole day it's like I don't remember what I did

yesterday I can't remember everything about this so in 1975 on their way to Bill's daughter's wedding Russell tells Sheeran

that the dons have become fed up with hoffa and have called for his murder reluctantly russell informs sharon that he has been chosen to carry this out knowing he might otherwise try to warn or save hoffa the two drive to a private airport where sharon boards a plane to detroit i mean i'm getting excited here we do have so the jesse plemmons element is interesting because earlier in the movie, he's shown to be Jimmy Hoffa's foster son. And they have this courtroom scene where a guy comes in with a gun. And then Jesse, whose name is Chucky, he kicks the guy's ass. And then Al Pacino's so proud.

Like, look what, look what he did. This is Chucky did. Chucky did that. I taught him. I raised him. I taught him that.

He's like, you always charge with a gun and you know, you don't charge people with a knife. You run from a knife or whatever. Yeah, yeah, he did.

And then he goes, I rhymed. So he goes, like, he goes, he's like, I have to remember what it is. Like,

if, if they have a charge, if they have a gun, if you see a knife run, oh, I rhymed. He literally, he see a knife run oh i rhymed he literally he literally said oh i rhymed and i feel like that was improv i was like oh i run i thought it was so funny and i and then i was like this is so sad what happens next that chucky's

so heavily involved in the murder i felt so sad for him does he realize that's happening as he's driving this i mean it's like i don't think so oh i thought he okay first of all i thought that was his son-in-law i thought he was like married to his daughter and then i thought he was i i was like betrayed i was like i thought jesse plummon's character was like in on it and was like gonna kill him but but maybe he didn't know that he was gonna kill hafa so let's see how it's described so hafa who had scheduled a meeting at a local restaurant with tony and Anthony Giacalone, is surprised to see Sheeran arrive late with Hoffa's unsuspecting foster son, Chucky O'Brien, Jesse Plemons, and loan shark Sally Buggs, Louis Cancelme.

That's not a good last name. That's a very funny last name. Cancelme. You can't cancelme. I am cancelme. Hey, I was always cancelme. can't cancel me i am cancel me hey i was always kidding i cancel me now you cancel me they tell half of the meeting was moved to a house this is so like when joe pesci gets killed where tony pro and russell are away in the in goodfellas where tony pro and

russell are waiting so sharon is to drive him over there when halfa enters the house and finds it empty he realizes he's been set up. This is such a sad moment. So literally, Robert De Niro's like, hey, let's get out of here, let's get out of here. And then he kind of directs him and then just shoots him. I was like, the way that they talk to each other in all these movies before they kill each other, where they're just pretending everything's fine, it's so dark.

Well, that's what, I think De Niro or Ray Liotta says it in Goodfellas. He's like, the person who's being an asshole to you or whatever means he was not the one who's going to kill you. It's the one who smiles in your face. Yes. Ray Liotta. Yes. So as he turns to leave, Sheeran shoots him dead at point blank range, leaving the gun on his body and letting and letting him lay there.

And then after Sheeran departs, two other mobsters take care of the body. So it's crazy. And like the sort of like carelessness with which they just kill and walk away like i'm like yes they like they kill and they're like someone else will clean it up is that still happening that was my thought because there's so many scenes where robert de niro like goes into a like a restaurant and shoots people and then leaves like he does it maybe three different times and i'm like that would like i could see then

because no one had like cameras or whatever. So you could just, it's like he's not wearing a mask. He's just goes in and then he shoots them and then leaves. But now I guess you would just, you'd be seen right away. You'd be on the neighbor's ring camera.

Yeah, you'd be in a nest camera. Invoking their Fifth Amendment rights in a grand jury investigation into Hoffa's disappearance. Sheeran Russell, Tony Proe, and the others are eventually convicted on various charges unrelated to Hoffa's murder. One by one, the elderly gangsters die in prison.

That was, I liked that. I liked the whole jail sequence with Pesci eating and he's like, I can't eat that bread. And he's like, my teeth. I don't have teeth. I can't eat the bread. Give me a small piece. So sad. It was so real.

I was really sad. And then he's like, I needed a cane because my back hurt. But of course they wouldn't give me a cane. And I'm like, oh God, it broke my fucking heart. I know. I'm like, let this murderer have a cane. Yes. I would give him a cane.

He's still a nice guy. Sharon's eventually released and placed in a nursing home. He tries to reconcile with his alienated daughters, but Peggy, now played by Anna Paquin, severs all contact with him, sensing his... Why didn't they age up a child and have her be 30? Yeah, put a child in some heels. Just like a little Chanel suit. Where heels uh just like a little chanel suit where are we drawing

the line of the cg uh she senses his involvement in hoffa's disappearance this was this was a great scene so she is sitting there he comes home the dad comes home and she's like he she's like watching on tv that jimmy hoffa is missing and she's like have you talked to his wife? And he's like, no, I haven't. I haven't talked to her. You haven't talked to her yet? Like, why haven't you talked to her? Because it's like so weird that you wouldn't have contacted her. And then he has this bumbling, awkward phone call.

Yes. Being like, I'm sure he'll come back. He's probably just, he's pretending. Acting. That was acting. The acting. It was fabulous. Yeah, yeah.

I'll call you in the morning. I'll call you. Don't worry about it. I loved it. Yeah. That was fabulous. Yeah, yeah. I'll call you in the morning. I'll call you. Don't worry about it. I loved it. Yeah, that was really sad. And then he said his daughter never talked to him again after that. Because she knew. She knew.

Yeah. Sharon begins seeing a Catholic priest assigned to the nursing home who gives him absolution for his crimes he committed over his lifetime. Though Sharon shows little remorse aside from his killing of Hoffa. As the priest leaves, Sharon asks him to leave the door slightly remorse aside from his killing of Hoffa. As the priest leaves, Sheeran asks him to leave the door slightly ajar, emulating one of Hoffa's habits. So that was a fun scene because he's like, so I'm not, what if I'm not sorry?

He's like, you could just say you are. Just say you are. What if I'm not? Like, what if I don't, and he's like, what about the families? He's like, I didn't know the families. I'm like, okay. Which is a wild way to think.

Don't give him the cane. Yeah, I mean, yeah, at that point I'm like, socio, like, what about the families? He's like, I didn't know the families. I'm like, okay. Which is a wild way to think. Don't give him the cane. Yeah, at that point I'm like, socio. Like, yeah, you're not. I liked the ending. I thought the ending, the last 30 minutes I thought were incredible. Like, I really, really liked it. There was just so much in the middle that I personally maybe would have cut out. But also, who am I?

People like the movie. It did feel like a little wikipedia page sometimes you know yeah yeah yeah uh it's this whole story i mean i think the jimmy hoffa thing feels like what the story is really about but we don't get jimmy hoffa till like an hour in and so that's oh oh this is what i was gonna say when the um fbi people come to interview Sheeran and they're like so basically everyone's dead tell us who killed Hoffa and he's like I can't because he's the only one who's not dead and he did it yeah but then he's like oh who's after you who's after who brought you guys and they're like everybody's dead everyone's dead everyone's dead and then he goes and picks out his own fucking

casket which I forgot had happened and then I watched it and I almost had to fast forward it because I know too much that forward it because I too much that was really depressing I don't know don't you want to know what kind of casket you'll be in I want a purple one with flames I mean not to promote this company because I don't know anything about it but there's a company that is

pitching to young people to get your affairs in order essentially and you can have a casket chosen and paid for my only issue with it is i'm like that company won't exist when i die and then i've given them five thousand you've given them money yeah it's like it's like let's just let let's let let people sort it out after i i just think it's fine to not do that in advance but you should have a will lauren i do i do grace you should have a will too okay i'll get started

can i write right now behind you yeah oh yeah i'll let you guys take a pic as a thank you okay i should no you're right i should have a will because i could go at any second and i've got some things you know it's just smart to do it's smart to do because of people when that doesn't happen then that makes people's lives very complicated. Sometimes I do think about, like, making a Google Doc being, like, here are the passwords for all of my things. Like, I probably have some cool emails. Because, like, there's so much of my life that's online. Cool emails.

There's probably, like, some, because you know how, like, your parents would die and you would open a box and go through all these, like, letters that were really important. Sometimes I'm, like, should I have, like, a, like, I have these, these like really important things i've sent to people but they're all online so i'm like maybe i'll just like should i put my passwords on there anyways that's something yeah that's interesting actually or star them so that people know like those are the good ones yes label it will label it got it yeah put it in like a little folder you know like here's the good stuff for when I'm dead. Mary Carey emailed me. Well, the reception of The Irishman, critics fucking loved it. Citing it as one of the greatest in Scorsese's long career.

It holds a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which I get. I really do. I do too. It was just the length of it that I really... If it was two and a half hours, I'd be like, that's up there with Good just the length of it that I really. If it was two and a half hours, I'd be like, that's up there with Goodfellas.

Yes, I agree. Yeah. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, but nobody said you win. And no Oscars for Marty. That's tough. Yeah. That's tough.

Okay, so here's our little trivia all scenes that required de-aging effects were shot digitally with a custom three camera rig that they called the three-headed monster oh in 2015 score says the indoneo made a test reel by recreating a scene from goodfellas to see if the de-aging could work they didn't use motion tracking markers because they wanted the actors to stay present in the scene. So wait, that's so cool. Like imagine getting to be in the room where Scorsese and De Niro are recreating Goodfellas just for fun. Or I mean, not for fun, but like just why not? That's really cool.

And that's also interesting that you need three. I guess it's, you know, all sides of the face. And then not doing the markers I think is smart so was the yeah I would like to see what that looks like but I wonder if it's all around his face so then the person acting with him is having to kind of work through that I saw I saw like a little picture of it I think there's just like a bunch of cameras in the room and there's just like there's some on the side so that they can always be like tracking the sides of their i don't think it's like a contraction i think it's just more cameras just so that they can be like tracking and like yeah getting data i guess i don't really because like you know yeah i see it i see it so

it's really just a regular camera and then there's like basically lenses all around it that are doing different things so it doesn't really affect the people in the scene, which is cool. Oh, okay. I'm also looking at it. Yeah. Ooh,

it's a real funny looking camera. Yeah. It's like, you know what? I, I just, I also, just cause I just remembered,

I read this. Okay. Do you guys know how they're coming out with the new Mad Max? That's like Anya Taylor Joy. Furiosa. And people are like, well, why didn't they just do

what they did to the boys in the Irish like why can't we let Charlize Theron do whatever but I guess they were just like I think it ended in people because we haven't really seen the de-aging thing since then and so I think George Miller was like oh I hated the way that it looked in the Irishman so I'm not doing that

yeah and also like maybe Charlize wouldn't want to do that yeah did don't know yeah did we ask Charlize yeah let's get her opinion uh oh the house that appears in the beginning of the film is the same house that appears in Goodfellas maybe that's why I felt like I was like it felt good this feels this feels like home yeah I feel like like I recognize this I know. I was excited at the beginning because I really didn't think that was going to be the vibe since the Irishman, the title doesn't evoke anything to me. So I just didn't know.

Yeah. What city does Goodfellas take place in? Is that New York? Oh, I don't know what city it is. Yes, Brooklyn. Okay. I'm pretty sure it's Brooklyn. Yeah.

Right, right, right. According to Deadline, before accepting the role of Russell Bufalino, Joe Pesci refused multiple times to come out of retirement in order to appear in this film. Some sources say the actual number of refusals was 50. So he said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I heard you paint houses were the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank the Irishman Sheeran on the Tonight Show Robert De Niro remarked that the term along with I also

do my own carpentry work both oh refer to both the hit and the cleanup that's really that's wild that he that was the first thing they said and then he killed him yeah oh my god that's so wild he was like i kill and i clean up you want to be my friend and he goes yes and then he was like i'm gonna kill you and clean it up yeah

oh and one other thing i liked about the uh that whole like leading him to his death scene where like uh where just jesse plummins is talking about how he had picked up some fish in his car and that's where the seat was wet and then everyone's like what kind of fish was it and he's like i don't know he's like you don't know what kind of fish it was it's like i don't know it's you didn't ask for a fit you didn't say what kind of fish you want when you went and got it like i love the interrogation of that yeah and then and then jimmy hoff literally says you shouldn't put fish in your car because it'll stink and he's like you should know that for your you should know that for life that's a good lesson that's a good life lesson and then he goes and gets killed

he's always giving out good tips i do i always feel like in movies like that when they're talking about something really trivial like something really bad is about to happen so when they were talking about the fish i was like oh this is it he's gonna kill him now it's gonna be right now i thought someone was gonna just turn and shoot someone else i didn't know what was happening but i was like somebody's about to die for sure and i loved the leading into the house just because it's so so bleak it's like truly, it just, it breaks my heart. It's very sad. The sort of silence of like, something's off in here.

Oh, and now I'm dead. Well, we have to take another break. We're back, and it's time for the New Academy Awards. So despite his films having been nominated for over 100 combined Academy Awards, Marty himself has only won one. And we're here to correct the record. Isn't that crazy? It's very messed up, and we need to give awards out. So this is the prestigious first annual New Academy Awards.

We're going to read you some categories with nominees from this film and then we will all vote and decide. Great. Alright. The first award, Most Convincing Old Person Playing a Young Person. And the nominees

are Young Frank, Robert De Niro, Young Russell, My Joe Pesci, Young Jimmy convincing old person playing a young person and the nominees are young frank robert de niro young russell my joe pesci young jimmy hoppa al pacino i feel like it was al pacino because i really felt like it because it wasn't that noticeable same yeah same same i forgot yeah okay the new academy award goes to young jimmy hop Also, I didn't really clock Joe Pesci's de-aging. I thought he was just old the whole time. Me too. So maybe I just didn't take. Yeah.

The wrinkles were too deep. They're like, we can't buff these out. No, but yeah. Then he plays older, so I guess that's part of it. But that still seemed older than how he is now so yeah yeah okay i like started to forget i had to like google joe pesci i was like what does he look like now like it's just i know what what does he like where are we at oh he's 81 he does look great with that little interesting mustache oh my god he looks like

he looks like he's like should be in Steely Dan or something with that mustache. I don't even know what that type is called. I don't know what Steely Dan is. A band. Oh, they're like a handlebar mustache. Yeah, it's like cool guys with hats. Jazz guys. Or his handlebar goes like this.

I think it's like this goes down around the chin, but not the center of the chin. It's like a backwards goatee or something. It looks like the monster logo, the energy monster logo. That's what he's going for. It's branded. Okay, best side characters. The nominees are Bobby Cannavale as Skinny Razor, Ray Romano as Bill Bufalino,

Anna Paquin as older Peggy Sheeran, Jim Norton as Don Rickles. Oh, why did I think- I didn't realize that was Jim Norton. Me neither. What? Guys, who's Jim Norton? He did a great job.

He's a comic. He's a comedian. Oh, Jim Norton. Okay. He's in this? He plays Don Rickles. Don Rickles. This is like so interesting.

When he's like, I can make fun of anybody. No, it was like so good. Yeah. Oh, right when they're at the club. Yes. That's crazy. Wait a minute. Because I was going to say Ray Romano.

Because they do look a lot alike, actually. But I think it might have to be Jim Norton. Because we didn't catch that at all. That's amazing. I mean, I want to vote for Ray a little bit because we were so like, he did a really good job. But yeah, I want to give it to Jim because I think it's fun. I'm going to give it to Ray

because I just asked who Jim was three seconds ago. Okay, they're going to share this and break it into pieces like Mean Girls. Oh, I love that. That's so cute. Oh. Okay, it's score says Z. Time for reviews. I love that. So nice. That's so cute. Okay, it's score says Z.

Time for reviews. We're going to read reviews from Letterboxd. We're going to give a one-sentence review ourselves and a star rating. And for anyone who doesn't know, Letterboxd is a social platform where people can write reviews of films. And you can follow us on Letterboxd at Newcomers. Grace, are you on Letterboxd?

I sure am. I am. I think I wrote a review for this one when I watched it with my mom. But is your Letterboxd public or do you feel that that should be a personal experience? Oh, it's very public. It's public.

Everyone needs to hear my opinion. Personal experience. I just want to quietly write my thoughts and have no one read them. It's my movie journal. This review is a four-star review from Patrick Williams. Oh, maybe I don't want to be a gangster after all. It looks bad and sad.

Fair enough. Yeah. Anya and Allie are also going to weigh in. So if anyone wants to go first with their star rating and one sentence review please take the floor okay i think i'm gonna give it three and a half no i'll give it four stars because it felt good it felt like home it felt like the Scorsese that I know from like Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and Goodfellas and Casino. Yeah, it felt good.

But too dang long, Mardi Mar. I agree. Anya, do you want to give yours? Yeah, I'm going to go with 3.48 stars. Whoa. We're going to have a great hour of the movie. Wow. And it would have, I totally agree with you guys,

it would have gotten more if it was shorter. It would have been like my favorite film. And then I zoned out for so much. Yeah. The first time and the second time. My parents were like, this sucks ass ali thoughts i think i'll give it four stars and uh now i will never put a fish in my car unless it's tightly wrapped yes you got good good tips from those yeah good tips um great speaking about fish real quick there was somebody who brought fish on a flight and it

wasn't refrigerated and their suitcase was like full of maggots and then maggots were coming out of the suitcase and falling on people on this flight just read about it and yeah nasty that honestly i think they had to turn around it rivals what you found in a Delta blanket. Sure does. What did you find in a Delta blanket? A piece of shit. A piece of shit. A finger? And you think I'd still be with us? No, I would have floated right on to heaven.

A finger? I don't know. A little, like, whoa. I don't know. I can see a finger. But shit, that's crazy. Yeah. Not okay.

No. They don't wash the blankets, just so you know. It's just a good tip. I just wonder who put it in there. They think a disgruntled employee. I would guess someone who like, you know when you have to wipe? No, but that wouldn't explain why a whole piece of shit was in there. Never mind.

Yeah. You know when you have to wipe and you grab the next best thing? Your Delta blanket? You know when you have to wipe and you grab the next best thing, your Delta blanket? When you like shuffle to the bathroom on the plane wrapped in your blanket. With a full, cradling a full turd. Okay, I heard it, which is why I stopped. But for a second, I thought maybe, maybe. Yeah.

Okay, Grace, do you want to give yours? Yes. I'll go. Okay, Grace, do you want to give yours? Yes. I'll go. I give it a four stars. And because it's really long,

but it still was like, there was still some things where I was like, wow, that's really cool. Or like, that's really awesome the way that he shot that. And I also think it's just like really, the story at the end is sad. And beautiful and good storytelling. So I'm giving it four stars. Great. also gonna give it four stars which is almost surprising to myself but i do feel like it

brings back a lot of the good memories from um some of my favorite scorsese movies and you know would i shorten it yes but i'm not a Martin Scorsese. So I think it was a fun romp back with our mobster friends. Yes. I love that review. Grace, do you have anything that you wish to plug? Not right now, but you can follow me on Grace Spellman at all social things, even letterboxd if you want. And yeah,

that's it. Happy to be here. Had a great, had a great watch, had a great bath watch. It was, it was great. I love it. Thank you for being here.

That's so kind. Yeah, of course. Listeners, please write us a review on Apple Podcasts and rate the podcast on Spotify. We only want five stars. If you have any less than five, we don't want it.

Keep it. We'll be back next week with our last exclusive film, Killers of the Flower Moon, which is so wild that it just happened and I still didn't see it. Oh my God. Killers of the god killers of the flower moon so long too guys and it's so fucking depressing i honestly thought i would never see it like it was just like because it falls into a category that i was like oh so that's what i'll never know about

and now here we are so this is shocking yeah yeah and now we're gonna know about it isn't that exciting yes it is exciting it is you know even with everything we've done, there's just something about now we know. I feel like about every, every single category. Now I know. I've seen all Lord of the Rings. I do know. I, I've seen all of Star Wars. So it's, I got it. It's great. I will say nothing about Lord of the Rings has stuck with me. Well, you can't expect it all to stay in you. So much. We listened to a radio play for that one.

We got really deep in that. Lord, and I think we recorded on like a rainy day and I was like falling asleep from the radio play and falling asleep trying to talk about it. I was like, oh my God. Yeah, that sounds nice. We do our best. Exhausting. Yeah. Okay, well, we'll see do our best. Exhausting. Yeah. Okay, well, we'll see if we like Killers of the Flower Moon.

And we'll see you next week. Bye. Bye. Newcomers is a HeadGum original hosted by us, Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus. Our executive producer is Anya Kanovskaya. Our producer is Ali Khan. Our theme music, editing, sound mixing, and mastering is done by Faris Manji. Listen to new episodes wherever you get your podcasts every Tuesday. Thank you. That was a Hiddem Original.