But the film could say something about “the process of living and existence, through the work we could do — you could depict it, the actors could live in it.” And he could not resist the story of criminals whose lengthy life spans become a curse that burns their misdeeds into their souls. He quoted a lyric from the Bruce Springsteen song "Jungleland": “‘They wind up wounded, not even dead,’” Scorsese said. “And that’s even worse, in a way.”
“The Irishman,” he said, was not a repudiation of his previous crime dramas nor an expression of regret for how he’d depicted their swaggering characters. “I don’t think it’s regret,” he said. “This is different. Here, it’s the dead end, and everybody has to reckon at the end. If they’re given the time. And that’s where we’re headed.”
