Lower Manhattan is going back to the bad old days.
Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” used CGI technology to “de-age” the 76-year-old Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and 79-year-old Al Pacino. This weekend the streamer will de-age Little Italy with free food and drink.
From 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Netflix is teaming up with 11 area businesses to take visitors back to August 1, 1975 — the day after Jimmy Hoffa went missing, according to TimeOut.
The production company published a vintage-looking map, titled “Secret Guide to Little Italy 1975,” that spans more than five blocks of the neighborhood. Businesses listed include actor Tony Danza’s cheese shop Alleva Dairy; fourth-generation, family-owned bakeshop Parisi Bakery (where some workers have previously been busted for very real mob ties); and hair cutter Barber’s Blueprint.
Those in the know can acquire free treats, drinks and presumably merchandise from the participating businesses by saying, “Tell ’em Jimmy sent you,” TimeOut says.
A similarly retro-formatted invitation put out by the streaming giant reads, “You’re invited to a family affair. The Irishman … is taking over Little Italy.”
The epic 3-1/2-hour movie — considered the last hurrah for a crew of Hollywood greats — hit theaters in September. On Tuesday, Netflix dropped a “final trailer” for the film.
In an unusual move, Netflix is screening the film at the 112-year-old Belasco Theatre on West 44th Street, marking the first time the venue has ever been used as a movie house.
The promotion is clever but more of a throwback than some attendees may realize: Remnants of the Little Italy nabe of yore can still be found, but otherwise the old neighborhood practically sleeps with the fishes.
