Robert De Niro Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters | GQ

I was always thinking I'd like to see all my movies, go over them all and see in the order that I made them. And just sort of, just see everything that I've done one last time in my life. I don't know if I'll ever do it, but I used to think I'd like to do it. Godfather Part II. Francis I knew a little bit, but Marty, somehow he and Francis had talked and Francis asked about me. So he wanted me to come out to San Francisco to test with him or work with him or whatever. So I was ready to do that. And then they called and just said, it's okay, you don't have to come, you have the part. It was great, it was interesting. Then I went with Gray Fredrickson, who was one of the producers with Fred Roos. Gray and I went up to like the 30 something floor of the Gulf and Western building with a kind of reel to reel recorder to look at, put the movie on screen and just videotape the Brando scenes. So I used that as my reference when I was preparing. I knew him after that, I had met him, but not before. No? The thing with the dialect is that in different towns, different areas of Sicily, it's different. The dialect is different. So I spent a few weeks in Sicily going around and taping what they call a yawn. Some people went over the script with them. And then I had a Sicilian who lived in LA and I kind of worked with him to just say, we'll commit to this way of saying the Sicilian dialogue. And that sort of, I wouldn't say homogenized dialect, but kind of the best that we thought of all the variations. I would have gotten going crazy trying to say, we'll say this one or that one. Francis was very easy with what the actor wants to do and respectful. It was all good, couldn't be better. One thing we had, I remember we were waiting in Sicily. We got there and we would go every morning to the set and there was no sunshine. And this went on for a couple of days and finally they disbanded for about three weeks or a month maybe. And we said, let's everybody just come back. Well, he might've suggested Marty at one point when he was having his own, the way I understand, I don't know, I never talked to him about it. But I could see why he would have think of Marty, of course, because Marty would have been good to do it. But, you know, I'm very happy Francis did it. Did it come out a year after Mean Streets? That short a time? Wow. Mean Streets. You know, I borrowed money all over this neighborhood, left and right from everybody and I never paid them back. So I can't borrow no money from nobody no more, right? So who does that leave me to borrow money from but you? I borrow money from you because you're the only jerk-off around here that I can borrow money from without paying back, right? Marty and I, when we were kids, we sort of knew each other a little bit to say hello, or, you know, his group and my group had a mutual friend who'd go back and forth. And he'd tell me what Marty's doing. He's going to NYU, he's directing and so on. And then years later, Marty and I talked and I told him, I saw Who's That Knocking? I thought it was a terrific movie. And then he told me he's doing this film called Season of the Witch, which was Mean Streets. He said there's one of three parts, Harvey Keitel is playing Charlie, the lead, but there's the three other friends. I spent a bit of time with Marty, calling him and asking, well, which usually guy do you do? This character, this character, that character? So I went back and forth with him for a while until finally I decided to do Johnny Boy. And I ran into Harvey Keitel on the street and he said, yeah, you should do Johnny Boy. So I said, okay. And finally, I thought about it more and that's what I did. Taxi Driver. But please don't do this to me. I love him. I was shooting 1900 in Italy with Bertolucci. And so right after that, a couple of weeks after I got back, I went right into shooting Taxi Driver. It was a script that I had, that Marty Scorsese had given to me, that Paul Schrader had written, or maybe Paul gave it to me, but Marty was going to do it. And we were all excited by it. It's just a matter of when. I thought the script was terrific. We all did. It's interesting because the alienation, I don't know what the attraction is for people these days, but I think we all identified in some way the alienation of Travis's character. You talking to me? Then who the hell else are you talking to? You talking to me? Well, I'm the only one here. There were things in there that were written in the script. Some were ad-libbed and improvised. And I forget how we arrived at that, whether I talked or I did it. Marty remembers better than I do. I might've just done it. Sometimes as an actor, you just do things. And if the director doesn't say anything, they let, they want you to keep going. And you never know what part of that scene will be good or usable, depending on the director, what they, you know, what they want. And as an actor, all you know is just keep going until, you know, they say cut. The wrong roads have led us into war, into poverty, into unemployment and inflation. The Mohawk, Marty and I had met a neighborhood friend of his who was in the army. So he showed us a picture of people, kids he was in the outfit with. One of them had a Mohawk or maybe even more than one. So we said, that's an interesting idea. Let's try and do it. At that time, I was going to do The Last Tycoon with Kazan. We talked about what are we going to do? Because to have an actual Mohawk would be great. And so I said, well, let's talk to Dick Smith, who was a great makeup artist at the time and worked on Godfather I and II. And we did the test and it worked. He put a latex cap on my head and put the Mohawk that he had made and blew through a little thing, little beer stubble type thing on the rest of my head. And it worked. The only thing I mean, it's interesting because the latex back here, I had to stay sort of upright the whole day or whenever we did shoot with that because I didn't want it to unstick or we'd have to try and reapply it. And so I had like a stiffness in my neck, which I thought was good for the character in the scenes that I had done. So it helped in that way. King of Comedy. Yeah, I know. You look wonderful too, Jerry. I wasn't leaving you out. Bruh. Yeah. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. We met in Cannes. Marty and I, I came from Northern Italy where I was shooting again 1900 and he came for whatever reason he was there. And we were going over the script of Taxi Driver. But then I think at that somewhere in Cannes, we had gotten the script from Paul Zimmerman who was the main critic of Newsweek at the time. And I read it and I said, it's terrific. So again, I wanted Marty to do it. Don't go. You're dead. No. Stop shoving. I would say, let me meet some of the people who were the fans who wait for you like here, you know, outside and get an autograph. And I befriended some of them, went to their house, met their family. I dragged Marty along once or twice to these places and yeah, to the kids' houses. It was okay. It was good. It was all good. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Let me introduce myself. My name is Rupert Pupkin. The monologue to me was so good. And I was just being interviewed by a young comedian in one of the shows. And he said it was really good. Yeah, I said, I thought it was a great monologue. And I was, you know, one of the reasons I wanted to do it because it was just so perfect. But look, I figure it this way. Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime. In fact, we shot it once and I wasn't happy with it. And I asked Marty to do it again. And we then did it a week or two later because I wanted to work on it more and have it really more down than I did. It's Rupert Pupkin calling. Jerry Langford, please. Which is the first name or the second name? The costume designer was Dick Bruno, the guy that I had worked with on Godfather II. And me, Dick and Marty, I remember there was a store near the stage deli and it had this mannequin in the window with this whole thing. And we looked at that, went inside, I said, let's do it. Even from the hair, I think he might've had a mustache. And we said, let's just use that. And that was it. I wish that we had taken pictures of that. Now everybody has an iPhone, but take a picture of that, just that this is where we got it from. It was a great mannequin right in the window there. Pete. Neil was a professional robber, if you will. Pacino plays the cop chasing him. It was a script that was given to me by Art Linson a year or two before we started making it, who was a producer on it. I thought it was terrific. Michael Mann was gonna direct it. Michael was a real stickler for little details and stuff like that. But I think ultimately it comes through. Tension to detail and small things that cumulatively wind up being very important. So he's a special director, Michael. I do what I do best. I take scores. You do what you do best, trying to stop guys like me. So you never wanted a regular type life? The **** is that, barbecues and ball games? Yeah. Was that the first scene you filmed with Al Pacino? No, we had been shooting for a while until that happened, as I remember. We rehearsed it a little bit, but basically it was what you call blocked. We were just sitting in chairs opposite each other. But it was one of my favorite scenes for me in Heat. It's a great scene. Written, not that we did, who knows. But it was a terrific scene. We rehearsed it and then we didn't start shooting until about midnight or one or something, which always is a little more taxing when you're going into night, especially if you've been shooting days. But it was my favorite scene, as I say. That's all. I did my best. Guy told me one time, don't let yourself get attached to anything. You are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner. Neil break his own rule in the end. Yeah, yeah. He went to see the girl and decided to go. And that was when he should have kept moving. I gotta take care of something. Is there time? There's time. Raging Bull. That's entertainment. Jake LaMotta and Jimmy Reeves in the Cleveland Arena. LaMotta is undefeated, but he's well behind on points. The Bronx Bull has taken a lot of punishment in this bout. Pete Savage, who was a friend of Jake's like a neighborhood guy, wrote the book. But I read it and I said to Marty, I said, this is an interesting book. Read it. It's not a great book, but it's got heart. It's interesting. Marty was not sure and I couldn't see anybody else but him doing it. At that point, Taxi Driver, and then we did New York, New York, and I was trying to get him to do Raging Bull. Still, I had wound up doing The Deer Hunter. So more time was passing. But then after that, he was in the hospital for something at that time, and I just wanted him to do it. I told Joe Pesci, he was there with me at one point. He came to say hi to Marty. I could not imagine him not doing it, but I was wondering whether he will do it. And Marty had some kind of epiphany or something at that moment. It's something that I remember he tells it, so he should tell the story. He committed to it either then or right after, or I was prepared for him to say no, but then whatever, and thank God he did it. I couldn't imagine it with anybody else. Yeah, I worked with Jake, trained with him, trained with other people, trained with Pete Savage for a long time. A boxer, you've gotta train. You just gotta know what you're doing. There was a place called the 14th Street Gym down on East 14th Street, where I would go every day and work with Jake or his brother, Joe, or Pete. One time, we used to get into shape, and we had the auditions there. We videotaped some actors coming in and some fighters, and then we'd show up to Marty. Was this the angriest role or one of the angriest roles you've had to play? Oh, I don't know. Angry, I guess, well, New York, New York was also one like that, and maybe too angry in some ways, but I haven't seen the movie in so long. I haven't seen it. Killers of the Flower Moon. Now, most fellas out here are crooked. Some do things right, most do bad. So don't be simple. Most are alone. Don't make small trouble about nothing. You're gonna make trouble, make it big. Get a big payoff for that, you hear? An interesting person, because he was what he was, but at the same time, he felt he connected to the people, the whole, the community. I don't know how much he deeply believed that, but he acted as if he did. Felt like a benefactor, a benevolent pillar of the community, and then all of a sudden, these horrible things he was doing. So, it's interesting, interesting character. You got a good face, you know that? Think you can be the married kind? Married kind? Mm-hmm. How do you mean? Well, we mix these families together, and that estate money flows the right direction. It'll come to us. Some things I don't understand about that character, but, you know, sometimes you don't have to. Just behaviorally, you just go in this direction, and it just turns out to be what it is. I read a lot about him. I even saw some videos of, I think, Ernest's character. There was something with him years later, out of prison, and back, I think even back in Oklahoma. Stuff I read here and there, all over whatever. I met some people in Oklahoma who had some connection to him, or Ernest, or whatever, and so. It just looks like murder. It's not supposed to be that way, you hear? I told them in front of their head. I said, in front of their head, just like this, just like you told me. I promise you, I promise you, I swear on my children. No, no, no, no, no. I swear on my children, okay? Sit, sit, sit, sit. Don't swear on your children. Makes you look foolish. I enjoyed working on the movie, in general. The scenes with Leo were good. They were terrific, and the community was very much part of the movie, behind the film, and Marty had meetings with him, he and Leo, and everybody was in sync with the whole experience. I think only that when Marty has a lot more experience, as I do, it benefits you. You know, what really to focus on, what maybe you don't have to focus on so much, and if he has something, he'll say, look, when we get together, we talk about it, and he'll say, this is it, da, da, da, da, da, da. Hopefully we will do another thing or two. Good fellas. How's it going? Jimmy, I'd like you to meet the kid, Henry. How you doing? Pleasure. Thank you. All right, keep filming. See, Jimmy was one of the most feared guys in the city. It's interesting, what happened with that, is that I was shooting We're No Angels near Vancouver, Canada, and I knew Marty was doing the Pileggi book, Wise Guy, with Irwin Winkler Producing, and I said, let me read the book. I know I'm too old to play the Henry Hill part. So I read it, I said, well, this is interesting, maybe I can play the other Jimmy the Gent part with Marty. He said, yeah, so that's how I remember him. I used to talk to Henry, I'd get a number, or Henry would call me. I had a question about something, this and that. I'd tell Nick, I wanna get ahold of Henry, and then he would call me and we would talk about things. I didn't, I don't know if the character was based on was alive. I met his daughter once, and I was gonna talk to her again, but I don't know, she didn't want to, maybe I forget what happened. But no, Henry Hill was an important person to talk to. He knew, he observed the behaviors of my character and so on, so it was good. I didn't know, and I don't know whether Marty thought of that song as he was shooting that piece, I don't know, but the shot was good. Well, he was a pretty ruthless character. That's his life, that's all he knows. You might know who we are, but we know who you are. You understand? Meet the parents. All right, now look, Fokker, I'm a patient man. That's what 19 months in a Vietnamese prison camp will do to you, but I will be watching you, studying your every move, and if I find that you are trying to corrupt my firstborn child, I will bring you down, baby. I will bring you down to Chinatown. Before that, I had done Analyze This, and that was the reason I wanted to meet the parents, but Jane Rosenthal, my partner, and Jay Roach, we met, they told me what it was. I might have read the script before I met or after, I don't know, but I said, okay, and then I read it, I said, okay, let's do it. Now, these aren't 100% accurate, right? They're, well, you'd be surprised how accurate they are. They can tell fairly easily if someone's lying or not. Now I'm gonna ask you some questions, and all you have to do is answer yes or no. Okay. All right, let's give it a whirl. In some ways, there's preparation, and others, I mean, there were things that I remembered, and some of the things that I've done, I don't even remember anymore. They're in the University of Texas, but the one thing I remember is a CIA friend of mine telling me about the lie detector thing and what they had to go through, you know, and I thought, this is interesting, and I said it to Jay and Jane, how about this kind of scene that Jack puts Ben's character through? So that's how that sort of evolved into whatever it was. I enjoyed working with it. We had a good time on it. I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me? Okay, can we change the subject, perhaps? With comedy, see, I was happy, because you can do things that, in a kind of a straight thing you can't do, make little choices that are maybe eccentric, that can be funny, but in a straight drama or something, wouldn't be acceptable, so it gave me a little sort of sense of freedom to try things. Jinxie, cat, Jinxie, cat, where are you? I love you. Jinxie. We hung out together. Jinxie stayed with me, slept with me. No, I'm kidding. Bronx Tale. I want you to listen to me. Hey, do not go near the bar. Stay on the stoop, but keep away from the bar. When you're older, you'll understand why. Yes. You don't see me go near that bar, do you? Mommy, won't let you go there either? What am I gonna do with this kid? Well, I wanted to direct a movie, and I couldn't find anything, couldn't think of anything. I heard about Chaz's one-man show, so I went to see it, thought about it after I saw it, and we talked. I said, okay, let me commit to this if he wants to do it, because he had a lot of offers at that time. I mean, everybody wanted to do it. That was the hot project, and what he wanted was to play Sonny, and so I said to him, what's gonna happen is the studio's gonna buy it from you, and they're gonna probably come to me and ask me to play Sonny. That might not happen, but I promised you if I direct it, I'll play the father and you play Sonny. I'm not afraid of you. Well, you shouldn't. I know who you are, Sonny. I know what you're capable of, and I would never step out of line. You could ask anybody in this neighborhood who knows me, but this time you're wrong. You're no fool to a man's family. This is my son, not yours. What are you gonna do, fight me? You stay away from my son. Get out of here. Go ahead. I don't care. Don't stay away from him. You know, he's played the other type before, and this was a chance. Chaz really wanted to do it, and it made sense, and I loved the Lorenzo character, and I thought it would be, you know, the right thing for me to do. Don't you dare disrespect your grandparents. Do you hear me? And you're wrong. They tried to give me a better life, and that's what I'm trying to do. What better life? We don't even own a car. We ain't got money. We ain't got nothing. Don't take it out on me, because you're a bus driver. The working man is a sucker. I liked it. I enjoyed directing the two movies that I did, that and Good Shepherd. Any advice on this? No, no. I showed it to Marty, I think. You know, it's been so long. I've showed them to him. I don't know whether they were the final, or rough cut, or what do you think? Blah, blah, blah. Zero Day. 3,402 people died on Zero Day. I heard he told you. I had nothing to do with that. Yeah. Well, that's why I'm here. I play an ex-president, had left 12 years earlier, and there's a crisis. It's called Zero Day, and everything is shut down in the country for a minute. Angela Bassett, who's playing the president, wants me to head this commission to find out what happened, because she feels that my character would be able to be a good choice for this, have a good presidency. It was only one term. So that's how it starts. Ex-president George Mullen is not only a wannabe tyrant, he's a deeply troubled man. I'm on to you, Georgie. Sir, is there something going on here that you're not telling me about? With my agent, and I was saying, I wanna try and do something in New York for a while, you know, so I can stay there. And so he said, well, limited series. I think, I can't even remember how exactly. So he introduced me to Eric Newman, and we, and Eric and I met, and he happened to have something interesting for him and interesting for me. So I said, great. So he wrote out a treatment of that. Treatment is like a written out version of whatever you have of that material now to just explain the story. And so I read that. I said, it's good. And so, and then he started sending me one episode, a few weeks later, another episode. You're right. I don't know who they are. Neither do you. None of us do. But if we keep shouting at each other like this, what are we gonna accomplish? We're Americans. What are we doing? We're supposed to be standing up for each other. We're supposed to be helping each other. What he says, he's trying to tell everybody to just chill. And we're doing exactly what they want us to do, is to fight each other. And that's not what we should be doing.