Robert De Niro, undoubtedly the Hollywood’s top screen gangster, is reuniting with Goodfellas writer Nicholas Pileggi to play a dual role in the upcoming gangster drama ‘Wise Guys’.
The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the Oscar-winning actor is on board to lead the new project from filmmaker Barry Levinson, who will direct from a script by Pileggi. Goodfellas’ Irwin Winkler is also on board as a producer.
De Niro will reportedly play both Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two real-life Italian American mobsters from opposing families.
The film will be an interesting challenge for De Niro, as the 79-year-old two-time Academy Award–winner will be playing dual roles as the real-life Italian American mob bosses and rivals Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, sources revealed to the publication.
Pileggi previously co-wrote Goodfellas with director Martin Scorsese, adapting Pileggi’s own 1985 book Wiseguy. Goodfellas would go on to receive six Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture.
Wise Guys is in the works at Warner Bros. Discovery, the newly formed media giant that resulted from the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. The company recently made headlines for reshuffling its slate across several platforms, including the highly publicized cancellation of the $90 million DC superhero flick Batgirl.
De Niro has previously worked with director Barry Levinson on Wag The Dog (1997) and What Just Happened (2008), with the HBO movie The Wizard Of Lies (2017) being their most recent collaboration.
