Robert De Niro Sounds Off On Acting, Directing, And Donald Trump
09.03.2024 - 05:55
/ deadline.com
A hit song by Bananarama in the ’80s told us that Robert De Niro‘s Waiting. Tonight, on Real Time with Bill Maher, he finally got the chance to get a few things off his chest.
Maher tried to balance things between show business chat and trying to draw out De Niro on a few political topics. He acknowledged the actor’s greatness by reading off a laundry list of films enhanced by De Niro’s work, and asked what goes into deciding which film to work with.
“I see the possibility,” he said. “Some I’ve been involved with from the inception. They’re movies I’ve felt were worthy. I think I have a pretty good average. I just pick certain things, that I feel are good, well-written, or smart, or the director’s good. Scorsese, I just go with him no matter what’s he going to do.”
Asked whether there was anything he missed out on, De Niro had a surprising choice: The Silence of the Lambs. He said he was taking too long to think about doing the Hannibal Lecter role, and director Jonathan Demme just moved on to Anthony Hopkins. “I don’t regret it,” De Nir said. “That’s just what happened.”
De Niro was asked to reflect on his directing of two films, The Good Shepherd and A Bronx Tale. Why didn’t he do more of that?
“It takes a lot of work to direct a movie,” De Niro said, adding, “If you do a film, you make it your own.” He enjoyed working with kids who were not actors, De Niro said, noting that they had to “be from that world” in order to be convincing.
Can the 80-year-old De Niro keep going? “I hope I can. I’m very busy,” he said. “I keep going because I know if you don’t keep going, you will atrophy and dry up.”
Because De Niro is President Joe Biden’s age, he was asked about the age question that stalks the president.
“This whole