By Ben Travis, Nick De Semlyen | Posted 27 Sep 2019

In Martin Scorsese’s upcoming mob saga The Irishman, a cast of icons – including Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci – are tasked with playing their characters across several decades, including embodying their younger incarnations. Empire’s world exclusive The Irishman issue, on sale now, has the full story on how it was made possible – and beyond CGI de-ageing techniques, the actors were joined on set by a ‘posture coach’ to help them physically personify their younger selves.

“This guy, Gary, he showed me how I should go down the stairs,” De Niro, who plays hitman Frank ‘The Irishman’ Sheeran, tells Empire. “I kind of hopped. Let myself fall down the stairs as opposed to carefully stepping down them. What’s the word? Sprightlier.” Pacino, now 79, also took a new approach to stairs in his role as labour union leader Jimmy Hoffa – at one point having to propel himself up a set. “Hoffa was a very energetic fella!” he says. “Somehow I managed to do it with real alacrity […] During the take, it was powerful. I did think, ‘How did I manage to do that?’”

According to producer Jane Rosenthal, the effect of seeing De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci as their younger selves is true movie magic. “There’s a moment early in the movie where they’re on the side of the road, these older guys. They turn around and say, ‘Look where we are,’ and you are instantly seeing them in their younger years together,” she tells Empire. “The first time I saw it I was an emotional wreck. It had that feeling of, ‘My God, we finally got to this point.’”

Read the full story of how The Irishman came together against all the odds, only in the current issue of Empire – with exclusive interviews with Scorsese, De Niro, Pesci and Pacino, brand new images, and exclusive cast portraits. Find it on newsstands now, or order a copy online with free UK P&P here.