Charlie Brandt's mob book sells to ParamountMartin Scorsese will direct Robert DeNiro in the main role as Mafia hit man Frank ‘Irishman' Sheeran
By SUSAN BAILEY
The Wood River Journal
Ketchum - When Variety told Hollywood on Oct. 2 that Paramount Pictures had bought the rights to turn the book “I Heard You Paint Houses” into a movie by Martin Scorsese featuring Robert DeNiro in the title role, Charlie Brandt almost hugged himself.
The news came via e-mail when he opened his laptop computer at his Ketchum home. The only word he could think of was honor.
“Believe it or not, the $100,000 or maybe $300,000 paid to a writer is so minor compared to the honor of having the movie made by these two artists,” Brandt said.
There's also monetary gain from book sales stimulated by a film, likely to be a boost for “I Heard You Paint Houses,” published in 2004 about Mafia hit man Frank “the Irishman” Sheeran, who told Brandt he was ordered to shoot Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa.
But for film lovers, that's nothing compared to having Scorsese and DeNiro back in the crime business for the first time since 1995's “Casino.” Although the two Oscar-winning Hollywood figures are friends and have collaborated eight times before, they have shied away from mob films for years.
Brandt said he had held out hopes for Scorsese taking on “I Heard You Paint Houses” ever since Fox News senior correspondent Eric Shawn had introduced him to Barbara DeFina, Scorsese's ex-wife and frequent collaborator shortly after the book was published in 2004.
There was a little Sun Valley magic in the picture as well. Jerry Chamales, a Los Angeles resident with a home north of Ketchum, had bought an option to turn Brandt's book into a movie after Chapter One bookstore owner Cheryl Welch introduced the two men in Ketchum.
Chamales, it turns out, was good friends with Jake Bloom, a top Hollywood entertainment lawyer.
“Jerry goes to Bloom and discovers Bloom already represents Scorsese and DeNiro,” said Brandt. “Isn't that magic? Jerry and I talk that there's a force here.”
In September 2007, Brandt learned Scorsese and DeNiro were in negotiations with Paramount for a package deal on the subject.
“I was told the old Mafia expression, ‘Keep your mouth shut,'” said Brandt, who grew up Italian in New York and went to the same high school where “Angela's Ashes” author Frank McCourt later taught.
Then, on Oct. 2, 2008, Brandt found out the deal was real enough to be announced to the industry. Although Sheeran was a professional hit man for godfather Russell Bufalino and had snuffed more than 20 people in his line of work, Brandt said he always saw a complex man with deep feelings.
“He was tortured for having to kill Hoffa, who he adored,” said Brandt.
At the end of Sheeran's life, the two men became friends when Brandt, a prosecuting attorney for the state of Delaware, got Sheeran released from prison for medical reasons.
Brandt, a highly trained prosecutor who taught cross-examination and interrogation to lawyers and police officers, could tell Sheeran wanted to tell him about the death of Hoffa.
Although a prime suspect of the F.B.I., Sheeran had never confessed, knowing the mob would snuff him, too.
“When he wanted to confess, he wanted it pulled out of him and I knew how to do it, painlessly,” said Brandt. “The body wants to survive but the conscience wants to confess so there's a struggle. I'm Catholic, I grew up Italian so I knew it.”
Sheeran allowed Brandt to tape record their conversations starting in 1991, and at the final confession about Hoffa, use a video tape.
“One of the things he said to me that I'll never forget is, ‘I believe there's something after we die. If I got a shot at it, I don't want to lose that shot. I don't want to close the door,' and he didn't,” said Brandt.
Brandt said he had hoped for Scorsese and DeNiro in the film after he sold the rights to Chamales.
“I knew they'd respect the complex man that Sheeran was,” said Brandt. “He was not a thug. He was a tragic figure with deep human qualities and he had a strong religious background. His father had studied for the priesthood. His mother went to church every day.”
Brandt wrote “I Heard You Paint Houses” to reveal that side of Sheeran, and he thinks Scorsese and DeNiro will keep the focus on the man as a tragic figure.
The film's title is mob lingo referring to the fact that after a hit, someone has to repaint the walls to cover up the blood splatter. Steven Zaillian, who won an Oscar for a little movie called “Schindler's List” and who co-wrote Scorsese's “Gangs of New York,” will handle the adaptation.
This, too, has Brandt in a kind of ecstasy.
“So the screenwriter is the guy who wrote ‘Schindler's List' and got an Oscar for it,” said Brandt. “I'm unbelievably lucky.”
Scorsese and DeNiro will jointly produce the film through their respective companies. There's no word yet when “I Heard You Paint Houses” will begin shooting.
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