Authors: Shawn Levy
De Niro: A Life (90 page)
Chapter 3
1
“He showed up”:
Hackett-Freedman Gallery,
Robert De Niro Sr.
2
“there was a certain wall”:
“Robert De Niro on His Father’s Art Studio.”
3
“I hitchhiked from Dublin”:
“De Niro’s Irish Hike,” Debbie McGoldrick,
Cara
, September 2007.
4
“I made him a sign”:
“The De Niro ‘Passione,’ ” Christopher Sharp,
Women’s Wear Daily
, June 30, 1980.
5
“It was just a way”:
“Playboy Interview: Robert De Niro.”
6
“It was an exciting time”:
“Robert De Niro Can Do No Wrong,” Lee Child,
Parade
, November 8, 2009. Emphasis added.
7
“I think disciplined”:
“De Niro Talks!,” Samir Hachem, Hollywood
Drama-Logue
, May 22, 1980.
8
“I was the star”:
“An Actor’s Schedule Leaves No Time to Star,” Robin Finn,
New York Times
, August 16, 2000.
9
“How she behaved”:
“Robert De Niro: ‘I’m Prone to Overanalysis,’ ” Sheana Ochoa,
Salon
, March 16, 2012.
10
“I was afraid”:
“
New York, New York
: Martin Scorsese’s Back-Lot Sonata,” Chris Hodenfeld,
Rolling Stone
, June 16, 1977.
11
“I never expected”:
Kelly and Salander, eds.,
Robert De Niro Sr.
, p. 42.
12
“his ‘erratic’ behavior”:
Ibid., 27.
13
“He didn’t have a breakdown”:
“Robert De Niro on His Father’s Art Studio.”
14
“Larry was serious”:
Author interview.
15
“He seems oblivious”:
Woiwode,
What I Think I Did
, 197.
16
“He’s out to please”:
Ibid.
17
“I had seen an advertisement”:
Wolfgang Wilke, “De Niro in Moscow,”
The Face
, December 1987.
18
“He was very mild”:
“It’s Dilemma, It’s Delimit, It’s De Niro.”
19
“I thought I was getting”:
“De Niro in Moscow.”
20
“There was a teacher”:
“Robert De Niro: ‘I’m Prone to Overanalysis.’ ”
21
“Have certain things”:
HRC.
22
“I have a disrespect”:
HRC.
23
“Your dad gave it”:
Woiwode,
What I Think I Did
, 269.
24
“I eventually convinced him”:
“Robert De Niro on His Father’s Art Studio.”
25
“If they didn’t fall”:
Woiwode,
What I Think I Did
, 298.
26
“tall and heavyset”:
Ibid., 299.
Chapter 4
1
“I had an optimistic”:
Time
, unpublished background notes, June 2, 1977.
2
“He had a portfolio”:
“What’s Robert De Niro Hiding?”
3
“I’m Bob De Niro”:
“The Shadow King.”
4
“I remember a bunch”:
“Playboy Interview: Robert De Niro.”
5
“The actors weren’t paid”:
Author interview.
6
“They shot a scene of me”:
Author interview.
7
“I had years”:
“De Niro,” Schruers.
8
“I did not have a Plan B”:
“Robert De Niro Can Do No Wrong.”
9
“I got my first jobs”:
“It’s Dilemma, It’s Delimit, It’s De Niro.”
10
“The most expensive thing”:
“De Palma à la Mod,” Geoff Beran,
www.angelfire.com/de/palma/interviewparis.html
, February 26, 2002.
11
“It was all ad-lib”:
“Maximum Expression,” Barry Paris,
American Film
, October 1989.
12
“He showed up to shoot”:
“De Niro: A Star for the ’70s.”
13
“He was electrifying”:
“The Shadow King.”
14
“When he moved”:
“It’s Dilemma, It’s Delimit, It’s De Niro.”
15
“I’m Bobby’s
Italian
mama”:
“Look—Bobby’s Slipping into Brando’s Shoes.”
16
“When walking always looking”:
HRC.
Chapter 5
1
“I don’t even know all of you”:
“Look—Bobby’s Slipping into Brando’s Shoes.”
2
“blow nose with finger”:
HRC.
3
“I thought he was concentrating”:
“The Shadow King.”
4
“You have a marvelous”:
HRC.
5
“help the actors”:
“Playboy Interview: Robert De Niro.”
6
“Roger is brief”:
HRC.
7
“As an actress”:
“Off Broadway Actors Go on Strike,” Louis Calta,
New York Times
, November 17, 1970.
8
“I’ve been clobbered”:
“Shelley: ‘I’m Bloody but Unbowed,’ ” Guy Flatley,
New York Times
, January 17, 1971.
9
“Bobby was acclaimed”:
Winters,
Shelley II
, 302.
10
“You’re talking to the commission”:
HRC.
11
“Attitude: always cocky”:
HRC.
12
“I make believe I don’t see”:
HRC.
13
“He told me, ‘I’m casting’ ”:
Author interview.
14
“I had a real problem”:
Author interview.
15
“They must’ve had a fight”:
Author interview.
Chapter 6
1
“I said to him”:
“The Shadow King.”
2
“I didn’t
really
know him”:
Kelly,
Martin Scorsese
, 72.
3
“I read for John Hancock”:
Time
, unpublished background notes, June 2, 1977.
4
“I saw in every baseball game”:
“Dialogue on Film: Robert De Niro,”
American Film
, March 1981.
5
“I used to think”:
“Stardom’s Drums Banging for Robert De Niro,” Richard Cuskelly,
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, August 12, 1973.
6
“I told him to read”:
“Jim Bouton Bangs the Drum Loudly,” Jim Bouton,
New York Times
, September 30, 1973.
7
“I went down to Florida”:
“Robert De Niro: He Had to Play Ball.”
8
“I wanted to listen”:
“Stardom’s Drums Banging for Robert De Niro.”
9
“I tried mixing”:
Ibid.
10
“to show what’s unlikeable”:
HRC.
11
“I didn’t try to play dumb”:
“Robert De Niro: He Had to Play Ball.”
12
“He used stupid eyes”:
“De Niro: A Star for the ’70s.”
13
“I watched Bob”:
“Robert De Niro—The Return of the Silent Film Star,” Susan Braudy,
New York Times
, March 6, 1977.
14
“He has death”:
HRC.
15
“He’s an immigrant”:
“Colleagues Say De Niro Has No Peer,”
New York Times
, March 11, 1991.
16
“You just spent a whole year”:
Thompson and Christie, eds.,
Scorsese on Scorsese
,
38.
17
“For a long time”:
Ibid., 9.
18
“I always looked”:
Kelly,
Martin Scorsese
, 23.
19
“The first version of the script”:
Ibid., 71.
20
“Sandy had heard”:
“Spirit in the ‘Streets,’ ” Stuart Byron,
Real Paper
(Boston), November 28, 1973.
21
“One is the guilt-ridden”:
Rolling Stone
, June 16, 1977.
22
“ ‘If you want to make
Mean Streets
”:
Thompson and Christie, eds.,
Scorsese on Scorsese
, 39.
23
“He’d already been cast”:
“A Walk and a Talk with Robert De Niro.”
24
“I had never seen Bobby act”:
“Robert De Niro—Private, Professional, a Male Greta Garbo,”
W
, July 11, 1975.
25
“Bobby and I were as close”:
“The Shadow King.”
26
“Marty: I think (know)”:
HRC.
27
“I aspire to be”:
HRC.
28
“The neighborhood was just a sea”:
Mean Streets
production notes.
29
“They had got on each other’s nerves”:
Thompson and Christie, eds.,
Scorsese on Scorsese
, 43.
30
“Literary reference”:
“Spirit in the ‘Streets.’ ”
31
“immediately, he put him”:
Biskind,
Easy Riders
,
Raging Bulls
, 246.
Chapter 7
1
“Everybody tested”:
“A Walk and a Talk with Robert De Niro.”
2
“I thought he was very magnetic”:
Lebo,
The Godfather Legacy
, 221.
3
“It kept rolling”:
Ibid.
4
“De Niro’s assignment”:
The Godfather, Part II
production notes.
5
“Sicilian is something else”:
“Actor,” Bob Thomas,
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, March 2, 1975.
6
“I was always up front”:
The Godfather, Part II
production notes.
7
“When I went into a bar”:
“Actor.”
8
“If you’d asked me”:
The Godfather, Part II
production notes.
9
“The people are very”:
The Godfather, Part II
production notes.
10
“Never show how”:
HRC.
11
“There’s a peasant”:
“Robert De Niro: He Had to Play Ball.”
12
“lead a little”:
HRC.
13
“It’s like being”:
The Godfather, Part II
production notes.
14
“an attitude of just about”:
HRC.
15
“I watched the tape”:
“De Niro: A Star for the ’70s.”
16
“The slicked-down hair”:
“Actor.”
17
“He wanted to do one scene”:
“De Niro: A Star for the ’70s.”
18
“earned the right”:
“Look—Bobby’s Slipping into Brando’s Shoes.”
19
“Guinness isn’t a personality”:
“It’s Dilemma, It’s Delimit, It’s De Niro.”
20
“ ‘Well …’ a long silence”:
“Robert De Niro: He Had to Play Ball.”
21
“We were both at a party”:
author interview.
22
“Listen, let’s put it this way”:
“Look—Bobby’s Slipping into Brando’s Shoes.”
23
“Why do people want to know”:
“It’s Dilemma, It’s Delimit, It’s De Niro.”
24
“After I give an interview”:
“De Niro: The Phantom of the Cinema,”
Time
, July 25, 1977.
25
“He picked these incredibly”:
Biskind,
Easy Riders
,
Raging Bulls
, 248.
26
“I gave a Thanksgiving”:
“De Niro: A Star for the ’70s.”
27
“When I met him”:
“Amo, Amas, Abbott,” Hilton Als,
Details
, November 1986.
28
“By temperament”:
“Diahnne Abbott, Honeysuckle Rose,” Interview, October, 1977.
29
“Bob is very Italian”:
“Robert De Niro—The Return of the Silent Film Star.”
30
“We shot the old stuff”:
“De Niro,” Scott.
31
“The first few days were a nightmare”:
“De Niro: A Star for the ’70s.”
32
“Bertolucci … would tell me”:
“Dialogue on Film: Robert De Niro.”
33
“I can’t do it without”:
“It’s Dilemma, It’s Delimit, It’s De Niro.”
34
“Bob will never be”:
“Robert De Niro—Private, Professional, a Male Greta Garbo.”
Chapter 8
1
“Lots of people who win”:
“Robert De Niro—Private, Professional, a Male Greta Garbo.”
2
“I like him”:
“De Niro: A Star for the ’70s.”
3
“I’ve got to decide”:
“Actor.”
4
“like some infant’s pacifier”:
Biskind,
Easy Riders
,
Raging Bulls
, 287.
5
“I was … very suicidal”:
“A Fallen Calvinist Pursues His Vision of True Heroism,” Samuel G. Freedman,
New York Times
, August 25, 1991.
6
“I wrote the script very quickly”:
“Screen Writer:
Taxi Driver
’s Paul Schrader,” Richard Thompson,
Film Comment
, March–April 1976.
7
“I was so upset”:
“Creating a Landscape of Characters in Turmoil,” Laura Winters,
New York Times
, January 3, 1999.
8
“It is me without any brains”:
“Screen Writer:
Taxi Driver
’s Paul Schrader.”
9
“It was the strongest stuff”:
“The Shadow King.”
10
“I almost felt I wrote it”:
Paul Schrader,
Taxi Driver
[script] (London: Faber and Faber, 1990), xix.
11
“I
had to make
”:
“Martin Scorsese’s Gamble,” Guy Flatley,
New York Times
, February 8, 1976.
12
“I don’t know about anyone else”:
“Taxi Driver: A Bargain for Tinsel Town,” Nancy Collins,
Women’s Wear Daily
, July 16, 1975.
13
“when I couldn’t really distinguish”:
“Screen Writer:
Taxi Driver
’s Paul Schrader.”
14
“It’s kind of an exorcism”:
“Making a Movie Here Is a Movie in Itself,” Rex Reed, New York
Daily News
, August 3, 1975.
15
“There are a lot of Catholic”:
“
Taxi Driver
Is a Hit for Martin Scorsese,” Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times
, February 22, 1976.
16
“My character wandered”:
“Screen Writer:
Taxi Driver
’s Paul Schrader.”
17
“I said to him, ‘Do you know’ ”:
“Robert De Niro—Private, Professional, a Male Greta Garbo.”
18
“De Niro’s contribution”:
“Screen Writer:
Taxi Driver
’s Paul Schrader.”
19
“Bobby was greatly pressured”:
Ibid.
20
“It was an agreement”:
“
Taxi Driver
: A Bargain for Tinsel Town.”
21
“De Niro told me”:
“Screen Writer:
Taxi Driver
’s Paul Schrader.”
22
“We drove up and down”:
Wilson,
Scorsese on Scorsese
, 51.
23
“He got a strange feeling”:
“
Taxi Driver
Is a Hit for Martin Scorsese.”
24
“One day when it was pouring”:
“Making a Movie Here Is a Movie in Itself.”
25
“Michael Phillips saw”:
“Screen Writer:
Taxi Driver
’s Paul Schrader.”
26
“I got the idea”:
“De Niro: A Star for the ’70s.”
27
“You know how a crab”:
“Playboy Interview: Robert De Niro.”
28
“Is he a SAG member”:
“Night Shooting in NYC with Martin Scorsese,” Patrick McGilligan,
Boston Globe
, August 17, 1975.
29
“I was feeling particularly blue”:
“Screen Writer:
Taxi Driver
’s Paul Schrader.”
30
“I told Sue”:
“
Taxi Driver
: A Bargain for Tinsel Town.”
31
“improvising all our scenes”:
Times
(London), April 23, 2011.
32
“He treated Cybill”:
Biskind,
Easy Riders
,
Raging Bulls
, 300.
33
“We always said we were looking”:
Ibid.
34
“When I first read the script”:
“Jodie Foster’s Rise from Disney to Depravity,” Judy Klemesrud,
New York Times
, March 7, 1976.
35
“The memory I have”:
“The Age of Scorsese,” Laura Brown,
Harper’s Bazaar
, November 2011.
36
“He kept picking me up”:
“What I’ve Learned: Robert De Niro,”
Esquire
, January 2011.
37
“I was accused, in
Mean Streets
”:
Kelly,
Martin Scorsese
, 96.
38
“a heat-seeking missile”:
Phillips,
You’ll Never Eat Lunch
, 249.
39
“The second week”:
Schrader,
Taxi Driver
[script], xiv.
40
“a cokey movie”:
Phillips,
You’ll Never Eat Lunch
, 228.
41
“When the camera isn’t turning”:
“Making a Movie Here Is a Movie in Itself.”
42
“He stayed in character”:
Times
(London), April 23, 2011.
43
“Harry didn’t recognize”:
Kelly,
Martin Scorsese
, 93.
44
“No, don’t bother”:
“Robert De Niro—The Return of the Silent Film Star.”
45
“He just got into”:
“A Tribute to a Master of the Bravura Moment,” Janet Maslin,
New York Times
, May 4, 1998.
46
“To me, it’s the best”:
“Screen Writer:
Taxi Driver
’s Paul Schrader.”
47
“I think the director’s”:
Ibid.
48
“I didn’t trust anybody with it”:
Kelly,
Martin Scorsese
, 95.
49
“The real stuff”:
“Robert De Niro—The Return of the Silent Film Star.”
50
“Bobby hogs Marty”:
Ibid.
51
“In Martin … Bobby has”:
Ibid.
52
“We have a shorthand”:
Rolling Stone
, June 16, 1977.
53
“His whole thing is”:
Ibid.