In a recent interview with MTV to promote his Tribeca Film Festival, Robert De Niro revealed some interesting details about a project he’s currently working on with long-time friend and collaborator, Martin Scorsese. The project is called “The Irishman” and may draw from one of Scorsese’s main influences, Frederico Fellini:

“It’s based on a book called ‘I Heard You Paint Houses.’ It’s a very simple, terrific story about [mobster Frank Sheeran], who supposedly killed [Jimmy] Hoffa and Joe Gallo and so on,” De Niro said.

“We have a more ambitious idea, hopefully, to make it a two-part type of film or two films,” he continued. “It’s an idea that came about from Eric Roth to combine these movies using the footage from ‘Paint Houses’ to do another kind of a [film that is] reminiscent of a kind of ’8 1/2,’ ‘La Dolce Vita,’ [a] certain kind of biographical, semi-biographical type of Hollywood movie — a director and the actor — based on things Marty and I have experienced and kind of overlapping them.”

De Niro goes on to talk about the completed script: “Steve Zaillian wrote the first script, which is terrific.”  He continued, “The other part, Eric [Roth] is supposed to do it. And we’re hoping to move these things together.”