'Marty Is A Bloody Genius': Stephanie Kurtzuba On 'The Irishman,' Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese
(CBS Local)-- "The Irishman" with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Martin Scorsese took a long time to develop and Stephanie Kurtzuba first got a call about the movie in 2012.
The Martin Scorsese blockbuster film hits theaters on November 1 and Kurtzuba is working with Scorsese again after linking up with the legendary director in "The Wolf Of Wall Street."
"When I did The Wolf Of Wall Street, Marty [Scorsese] invited me to do a table read of a script," said Kurtzuba in an interview with CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith. "He said just come and we'll read through. I didn't realize everyone was going to be at the table read. I said be cool Steph. That's where it all started for me and then it was a huge process from there to get it made and on the screen."
Kurtzuba plays Irene Sheeran, who was the real life wife of De Niro's character Frank Sheeran. There were a lot of really interesting parts of this experience for the actor on and off the screen.
"The really revelatory thing to me was to realize what normal people these legends are," said Kurtzuba. "To be in the company of them was of course intimidating. When we started working and the camera started rolling, they were just other actors. That was my revelation when I worked with Marty the first time, he just happens to be a bloody genius. The Irishman had a very familial sense of camaraderie."
While Kurtzuba has played many fictional characters in the past, she actually had the chance to meet the real-life granddaughter of her character who worked on the movie.
"Human beings have a tremendous capability of compartmentalization," said Kurtzuba. "I do have some indication of the reality of her life. Irene's granddaughter worked on the film and she was incredibly generous with information about Irene and I tried to pull a lot of those authentic details into my performance. You rarely get an opportunity to have that kind of information."