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LONDON, England (CNN) -- "This is an event in world history," is how Hollywood producer Avi Lerner hyperbolically proclaimed the news that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino were to star in his new film.
De Niro and Al Pacino in a scene from their new movie "Righteous Kill," out this fall.
Lerner can, perhaps, be forgiven for getting a little carried away.
After all, it's not every day these two Hollywood greats appear together on screen.
Lerner is fully aware that by getting De Niro and Pacino to pair up in his latest venture "Righteous Kill," he has hit movie paydirt.
"They were in two scenes in 'Heat.' In this movie, they are in the whole thing together," he tells Variety magazine.
The pairing of heavyweight actors Pacino and Tribeca film festival founder De Niro is something which has tantalized film fans since their separate scenes in "The Godfather Part II" -- 34 years ago.
With 115 films and three Oscars between them, the two stars first acted together in the 1995 thriller "Heat," albeit very briefly in two unrehearsed scenes.
So "Righteous Kill" is something of a coup for Hollywood director and producer Jon Avnet, who made 1996's "Up Close and Personal" and 1991's "Fried Green Tomatoes."
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The longtime friends will star as two veteran New York City detectives on the hunt for a vigilante who may be one of their own. It is prime De Niro/Pacino territory, as Lerner acknowledges in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times.
He says: "They're playing New York City detectives; they are as New York as it gets. De Niro and Pacino the way you want to see them."
"They're both very opaque," he adds. "You don't know whether they're going to kiss someone or kill them. And that suspense is what makes their performances so intense in the moment."
"Righteous Kill" is a remake of a hit French thriller, "36 Quai des Orfèvres" -- the address of the French CID in Paris -- which also saw the pairing of Gallic cinema kings Gerard Depardieu and Daniel Auteuil.
De Niro, 67, said the film, to be released in September, came about because of their longstanding friendship and a desire to work on a longer project together.
"We are old friends, and he is a terrific person and great to work with and that was it you know, it was great," he told CNN's "The Screening Room" at the opening of the Tribeca film festival in New York.
"Because the other movie that we did, we had one great scene. I loved the scene we had where we meet in the restaurant and then the end of the movie.
"And 'Godfather' we were in the same movie but two different time periods, so we are in a movie now where we actually work a lot together."
Pacino, who recently turned 68, says their friendship enhances the acting experience.
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