The Irishman: Stephen Graham reveals improvised scene that took Al Pacino by surprise

Stephen Graham has revealed how he improvised in a stand-out scene in The Irishman, a move that took his co-star Al Pacino by surprise.

Graham and Pacino star in Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic alongside Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.

Speaking about what it was like to star in a film with his heroes, Graham said: “I don’t know if it’s quite sunk in yet. It was my Champions League final. These are the people I grew up watching, revering and wanting to emulate, so for that little kid from Kirkby to be working with them was amazing.”

He told the Observer New Review: “But I still took that playfulness and eagerness into the performance. We improvised so much. I slapped an ice-cream out of Al Pacino’s hand, which he wasn’t expecting. I threw a line at Bobby De Niro and he came straight back with the best reply. Those scenes were a joy.”

Pacino’s character Jimmy Hoffa loves ice cream. He consumes four sundaes during the film’s three-and-a-half-hours.

Hoffa’s affinity for ice cream is mentioned once briefly in I Heard You Paint Houses, the Charles Brandt book on which the film is based, but Scorsese appears to have capitalised on that single mention.

Pacino recently said: "When I took the role, I was like, ‘You mean I get to eat ice cream in this part? I'm in.’”

Graham recently spoke about improvisation on the set of The Irishman in The Independent's interview with him, De Niro and Pacino.

“I’ve worked with the odd idiot," he said, "which makes things difficult, but as huge iconic figures as Al and Bob are, the men I experienced as actors had no egos.”