Martin Scorsese and Al Pacino finally worked together in The Irishman, even though they seem like a perfect match given Scorsese’s visual and narrative style and the roles that made Pacino so famous – so why did it take them so long to work together? The gangster genre has seen some of the greatest movies ever made, and thanks to their works in this, various directors and actors are now associated with gangster stories, as are Martin Scorsese and Al Pacino.

Throughout his career as a filmmaker, Martin Scorsese has worked with some of the most praised and sought-out actors in the film industry, such as Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, Liza Minnelli, Winona Ryder, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Meanwhile, Al Pacino’s talent has led him to work with some of the most acclaimed filmmakers, most notably Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, Michael Mann, Quentin Tarantino,...