Guns, gangsters, and double Robert De Niro: Everything we know about ‘Alto Knights’
Thanks to an inconsistent recent filmography, nobody ever really knows which Robert De Niro is going to turn up in any given production, although recent history has at least shown the legendary actor has remained a dramatic powerhouse when he’s partnered with a talented filmmaker.
He landed the seventh and ninth Academy Award nominations of his career for David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, with his eighth coming from behind the camera after the latter’s The Irishman secured a ‘Best Picture’ nod, in which De Niro played the lead role.
That puts him in good stead for Alto Knights, and not just because it places him back in the gangster genre that’s given rise to so many of his greatest roles. A crime story with a talented filmmaker at the helm, De Niro’s star billing also comes with an interesting first-time caveat to a storied career.
A resurgent icon back in his most famous wheelhouse collaborating with an Oscar-winning director on a tale of criminality ripped right from the headlines sounds like a match made in heaven, although it remains to be seen if Alto Knights can live up to expectations.
What is the Alto Knights about?
Alto Knights focuses on the rivalry between Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, although the latter is not related to Jack Nicholson’s character in The Departed. High-ranking members of the Genovese and Luciano crime families, respectively, their bad blood builds towards a botched assassination.
Eying the top job in all of the American mafia, Genovese ordered a hit on both Albert Anastasia and Costello to claim the title ‘boss of bosses’ for himself. Anastasia was killed in the attack, but Costello survived and decided to exit the mob life after realising it wasn’t for him after all.
Based on the events that inspired it, Alto Knights will unfold largely between 1957 and 1959, with the hook being that De Niro will be pulling double duty to play both Genovese and Costello in a dual role that has the potential to be either a career highlight or an unmitigated disaster.
Who directed Alto Knights?
In addition to being written by Nicholas Pileggi of Goodfellas fame, Alto Knights boasts a heavyweight director at the helm in the form of Barry Levinson, who won ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ Oscars for helming Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman’s Rain Man.
His other credits include Good Morning, Vietnam, Bugsy, and Wag the Dog, but much like De Niro, Levinson has proven wildly inconsistent as of late. His most recent features have been self-indulgent dramedy Rock the Kasbah and acclaimed HBO exclusive boxing drama The Survivor, the latter of which displayed that Levinson still has plenty of offer with the right material in front of him.
Who is in the Alto Knights movie cast?
Any actor would be overjoyed to be part of a new Robert De Niro movie, but no offence intended to the rest of the ensemble; the rest of the Alto Knights cast is somewhat lacking in star power and name value.
Will and Grace‘s Debra Messing plays Costello’s wife, Bobbie, with Kathrine Narducci returning to the gangster genre after The Irishman and Capone as Genovese’s spouse Anna, while Shōgun breakout star Cosmo Jarvis will bring feared mobster Vincent ‘The Chin’ Gigante to life.
Carrie Lazar, Matt Servitto, Louis Mustillo, Belmont Cameli, Joseph Moreland, and James Ciccone are among the other names on board, but the focus will fall almost entirely on De Niro’s ambitious undertaking of playing both lead roles.
When will Alto Knights be released?
Production may have finished in early 2023, but there’s still a while to go until Alto Knights is released, with the film being retitled from its original moniker of Wise Guys along the way.
Originally staking out a February 2nd, 2024 theatrical debut, the film was subsequently pushed back to November 15th of the same year before being delayed again to its current – and prospectively final – release date of March 21st, 2025.
