I laughed, and said, ‘Of course. He’s Robert De Niro!’ And he said, ‘But he was wearing a disguise.’ And I said, ‘Marty, he was wearing glasses.’”
He Doesn’t Want To Talk To You
He Doesn’t Want To Talk To You
Photo: Warner Bros
Like some other great actors, De Niro suffers the contradiction of loving an art that gets him worldwide exposure while seriously disliking worldwide exposure. For a 1987 Vanity Fair profile, De Niro’s former secretary, Trixie Bourne, who also worked for Steve McQueen and Jack Nicholson, explained various ways she diverted those looking to speak to the actor (including the reporter).
“Mr. De Niro is traveling” was Bourne’s default response, though she would also use “Mr. De Niro is out of the country,” “I’ll have to get back to you,” or “We’ll see about that.” Apparently, De Niro once accidentally answered his own phone, and mumbled “Yeah, hello . . . this is Bob. I’ll put Trixie on.”
According to a friend of De Niro’s, “Bobby never answers his own phone. And he calls you—you never call him.”
Eventually, Trixie had to keep it real with Patricia Bosworth, who wrote the Vanity Fair piece: “Mr. De Niro will probably never talk to you, but he is giving you permission to talk to his friends.”
He Wants To Punch Trump In The Face And Thinks Obama Gets A Bad Rap
He Wants To Punch Trump In The Face And Thinks Obama Gets A Bad Rap
Photo: New Line Cinema
De Niro may be reticent to discuss his personal life in interviews, he doesn’t shy away from promoting political activism any chance he gets. He was incredibly vocal against the rise of dum-dum conservatism led by Donald Trump, saying he’d like to punch the orange one in the face.
But De Niro isn’t all piss and vinegar; he’s soft-spoken when it comes to personal political causes. While speaking at India’s Think Summit, he discussed how hard it is for someone like President Obama to make level-headed, sincere decisions: “Obama’s heart is in the right place and he has to pick his battles. It’s easy to criticize someone like him…. but he is a decent person. Some of the Republicans are just trying to win at all costs.”
Harvey Keitel Explains How De Niro Reads Scripts
At the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors, Robert De Niro received what can only be described as a lifetime achievement award to the nth degree alongside Bruce Springsteen, Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, and Grace Bumbry. President Obama presented the award.
The greatest story told De Niro that evening came from frequent co-star Harvey Keitel: “One day, Robby comes to me and he says, ‘Harvey, you know how an actor reads a script don’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He says, ‘Let me show you.’” Keitel then mimed flipping through a script while saying, “Bullsh*t, bullsh*t, bullsh*t, my part. Bullsh*t…”
De Niro Goes So Method He Learned Sax And Gained 50 Pounds
