SCRANTON, Pa. -- Our area may be the center of attention in a big new mob movie starring the likes of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.
Netflix now plans to produce the Martin Scorcese film that would portray one of our area's most notorious mobsters, Russell Bufalino.
Old Forge is just one of the local places that could be featured in the movie "The Irishman." It tells the tale of Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and Russell Bufalino, who was from Luzerne County.
The pair allegedly came up with the plot to kill Jimmy Hoffa in 1975.
It's a dark spot in our local history but one people seem excited to see "go Hollywood."
Newswatch 16 cameras were in a courtroom in Harrisburg as the Pennsylvania Crime Commission questioned Luzerne County mobster Russell Bufalino.
The relationship between Bufalino and Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran is the subject of the book "I Heard You Paint Houses." A screenplay based on the book was purchased this week by Netflix.
"People just love this type of story. True crime is very popular, and then when you add the mafia into it, it's even more appealing to some people. The local ties and everything, people were very excited to read this book," said librarian Anna Kilcullen.
Kilcullen says almost a decade after its release, "I Heard You Paint Houses" is still one of the most popular books at Albright Memorial Library in Scranton.
It seems readers like to learn about the dark points of northeastern Pennsylvania's past.
"It's just a very rich area for stories and I think that with all these big names attached to the Netflix, it's going to be great for us," Kilcullen said.
"For them to not come here and shoot, I think, would do a disservice to the film, because it's just so unique here," said local filmmaker Markie Dennenbaum.
Dennenbaum says it's a surprise that director Martin Scorcese's Hollywood team – makers of mob classics like "Goodfellas" and "Casino" -- to team up with a streaming service like Netflix for the film which will be called "The Irishman."
"There's been many influential people here, not just in the area but in the country, and that book deals with something that happened nationally that was decided down the street from here, which is really amazing," said Dennenbaum.
There's no timetable yet for when production on "The Irishman" would start or if any of it would be filmed here, but it already has quite the cast. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci are expected to be in it.