Why The Irishman Could Be Joe Pesci’s Final Film

He's currently earning raves for his work as melancholic mob boss Russell Bufalino in Martin Scorsese's Netflix epic The Irishman, but it seems the end of the road could be near for Joe Pesci's acting career. Here's why The Irishman might be Pesci's final film.

To be clear, there's been no official news or confirmation about Pesci's retirement, and there may not be, as Pesci hasn't exactly been one to offer career updates to the press over the years. But the actor has entered semi-retirement before. Since 1998's Lethal Weapon 4, Pesci has appeared in just four feature films: 2006's The Good Shepherd, 2010's Love Ranch, 2015's A Warrior's Tail, and this year's The Irishman.

Pesci has made a staunch habit of saying "no" to the movie business over the past couple of decades.

But it seems he'll at least consider answering the call if he has a chance to work with trusted friends like "Marty" and "Bob." He likely wouldn't have even appeared in two of his last four movies, The Good Shepherd and The Irishman, if not for the incessant urging of his long-time pal Robert De Niro. It was De Niro, after all, who coaxed Pesci back in front of the camera after an eight-year hiatus for The Good Shepherd. Pesci's other good friend, revered director Martin Scorsese, saw what the actor did with so little in that film. And thus, the director, who previously worked with Pesci and De Niro in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Casino, was clearly eager to get some of that low-key Pesci goodness on camera in The Irishman.

But even when Marty and Bob call him up, it's far from a given that Pesci will jump back in front of the camera. Scorsese and De Niro apparently had to ask Pesci between 40 and 50 times before he signed on to appear as Russell Buffalino in The Irishman.

If you're wondering why Pesci finally agreed to star in The Irishman, Scorsese said in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly a handful of reasons that may or may not have influenced Pesci's decision:

"It's not even about the money or about being compensated and appreciated for your value. It's about the physicality of [making a film] where nobody's giving you anything. At a certain age and physicality for the actors, it may not be worth it."

Like Pesci himself, his old movie crew is also getting up there in age. Though Scorsese and De Niro continue to crank out movies at an impressive pace, there's little doubt that eventually even they will have to slow down – which means that there will likely be fewer and fewer chances for Pesci to even think about boarding a film project moving forward.

While Pesci maintained a remarkably low profile in the movie business over the last 20 years, he's been keeping himself quite busy in other areas. During Pesci's first sabbatical from acting in the early 2000s, he spent much of his time making his way into the so-called "sport of kings" horse racing. Pesci has always taken the sport quite seriously, claiming that he backed into being an owner and breeder because he enjoyed horse racing so much. For the record, he still does, and remains a mainstay on the scene. Keep watching the video to see why The Irishman could be Joe Pesci’s final film!

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