On April 23rd, Brian Williams sat down for a one on one interview with Robert De Niro for Tribeca’s “Directors Series” talks.
One of our contributors, Denise, was in the audience as the notoriously shy actor shared some intimate details about his life, here are the highlights:
On being recognized: He said people usually don’t recognize him unless they are looking for him. He doesn’t mind people just saying “Hi Bob” in passing.
On being an introvert: He said sometimes he is and sometimes he’s not (audience laughed at this vague answer).
His first role was as the Cowardly Lion in a school play at age 10.
He said you never know when you’re working on a film, which ones will have a huge impact. When he was making Taxi Driver nobody knew it would become the classic it is.
Asked what books he reads: He said he mainly looks for things that would have potential to be turned in a movie.
The next project he will work on is called The Irishman with Scorsese and co-starring Joe Pesci and Al Pacino. Originally Scorsese & Robert were going to do something else, but Robert really pushed for this to be made next. It’s based on a book called “I Heard You Paint Houses.”
On working with “Marty”: Robert spoke very highly of Scorsese saying he’s not afraid to take chances and let actors express themselves. Working with him you feel free and comfortable and Marty respects what everyone does and the choices they make.
On begin on SNL: He think a lot of serious dramatic actors actually do better on SNL than in their movies. He also lets the cast pick the sketches for him and will do whatever they want him to.
He recently sent his archives to the University of Texas. He kept some things from his movies to set aside for his kids, otherwise they just disappear from the sets.
On technology: He’s not on the web very much, but he owns a computer, IPhone (likes to text), IPad (uses to read scripts quickly).
On owning a restaurant: He said it’s not easy but he got lucky.
If he had to live somewhere besides the US: Someplace tropical on the beach.
On Politics: He doesn’t know how we could get to the point where the government might get shut down. He thinks Obama has good intentions, but some other politicians not so much. He thinks they are playing games with people’s lives. He is a fan of Bloomberg, but wouldn’t want to work in politics because it’s a thankless job.
On retiring: He has no intention to retire anytime soon. Right now he has 7-10 projects he’s looking at, but out of those maybe 3 will actually get produced.
Here are a few more photos from the event as well:
