Robert DeNiro is slated to carry a dual burden in a new Warner Bros. feature, taking on the roles of hero and antagonist within an ambitious Mafia drama. The project, reported by The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday, carries the working title The Wise Men and centers on the high-stakes power struggles between two Italian-American crime families during the mid-20th century.
The film traces the clash between Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two legendary capos who led rival factions in a deeply influential era of organized crime. Genovese’s bid for control culminates in a dramatic turn in 1957 when an attempt on Costello’s life reshaped the mob landscape and forced Costello into retirement. These real-life leaders provide a stark battleground for the movie’s dramatic arc, with DeNiro poised to inhabit both sides of the conflict.
According to industry outlets, De Niro will portray both principal characters, a choice that promises to showcase his range and method in a single, high-stakes performance.
The project envisions a sweeping, era-defining scale, weaving together political intrigue, street-level ambition, and the brutal code of the underworld. The narrative will ground itself in the tension between loyalty and power, as two families navigate shifting alliances, betrayals, and the ever-present appetite for control within the criminal empire.
Visionary filmmaker Barry Levinson, known for audacious works like Rain Man and Wag the Dog, will direct the feature. Levinson will reunite with De Niro after collaborations on titles such as Sleepers and Wag the Dog. The collaboration signals a return to the director-actor synergy that characterized some of the most acclaimed mob dramas of the past decades. The film’s production team has also been linked to high-profile television efforts, underscoring a broader strategy to blend cinematic storytelling with serialized prestige.
De Niro’s return to the crime genre marks a major milestone for the actor, who has long defined the screen’s most memorable mob figures. His body of work includes landmark hits like Goodfellas, Casino, and The Godfather Part II, for which he earned an Academy Award in best supporting actor in the mid-1970s. The new project is framed as a career milestone that brings together the actor’s legendary gravitas and his willingness to revisit the formative worlds that made him a star.
Recent years have seen De Niro at the center of diverse projects, including his collaboration with Martin Scorsese on The Irishman, which revisited the life of an aging mob leader in mid-century New York. Looking ahead, the actor is expected to reunite with Scorsese on a Western set during the 1920s in Oklahoma, a project that would land on Apple TV+ in the streaming lineup. The Wild West setting promises a fresh backdrop for De Niro to deploy the same intensity that has driven his most iconic performances, while the reckoning between two reputations offers fertile ground for complex character work and brisk, dialogue-driven scenes.
As the production advances, industry watchers will be watching to see how the dual-role premise unfolds on screen and how Levinson shapes a storytelling rhythm that balances period detail with modern suspense. This star-driven project is shaping up to be a defining entry in the ongoing exploration of mob cinema that has long captivated audiences on both sides of the border. The Hollywood Reporter first broke the news of the project, setting expectations for a bold, character-forward investigation into power, loyalty, and the costs of leadership within criminal dynasties.