The actor explained why he had to wear the platform shoes during his recent visit to 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'.
- Apr 18, 2018
AceShowbiz - Robert De Niro donned platform shoes throughout the filming of his new gangster movie "The Irishman", so he'd tower over co-stars like Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel. During his recent visit to "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", he explained that he wore the shoes to appear more imposing.
"Those kind of things we made to give me a few more inches in height," De Niro tells chat show host Jimmy Fallon, "because the guy (Sheeran) was five or six inches taller than me. So it was just to show the relation to any of the other actors or characters that I'm taller."
The Netflix film is based on author Charles Brandt's 2004 book "I Heard You Paint Houses". The title refers to the criminal slang for contract killings. De Niro plays real-life union official-turned-mafia hitman Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, while Joe Pesci stars in the film as gangster Russell Bufalino.
"The Irishman" has been in development since 2008, but production plans with Paramount Pictures executives stalled in 2011 due to scheduling issues. It was only when Netflix bosses stepped in last year to produce the film on a reported $100 million budget that De Niro and Scorsese were able to officially move forward with the project.
Studio officials are planning to release the movie, which also features rapper Action Bronson, in late 2018 or early 2019.
