Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro have reunited for their 10th film together, “Killers of the Flower Moon.” While promoting the film, Scorsese reminisced about his long-standing relationship with De Niro, which began when they first met at the age of 16.
In an interview with the Hindustan Times, Scorsese shared, “With Bob De Niro, it’s a formative relationship. It goes back to when we were 16 years old. But we’d lost track of each other. I didn’t know he wanted to act and he didn’t know I started directing.”
The Oscar-winning director continued, “When we did ‘Mean Streets,’ we were reintroduced to each other by Brian De Palma. By doing ‘Mean Streets’ and ‘Taxi Driver’ together, we found that we were drawn to the same subject matter, same psychological and emotional conflicts in people, in characters, and in ourselves. A certain trust was developed.”
Scorsese also mentioned that he initially resisted working on “Raging Bull” for several years, but De Niro insisted it would be beneficial for him. “He’s the only one alive now who knows where I come from, as kids, as young people. So the keyword is trust, fearless, and less vanity,” Scorsese added.
Scorsese noted that De Niro was “protective” over his career, especially after winning the Academy Award for “The Godfather II.” “He was very powerful at that time. But even then, we always had the danger of the studio taking away the film from you. No such thing as the final cut for me at that point of time. Inevitably, the actor would comply with the studio. This guy wouldn’t do that, he’d stay with you. And so I had that as a power. He was protective of me and the film,” Scorsese recalled.
According to Scorsese, De Niro also prioritizes the quality of the film over his own acting or special treatment. “He’s concerned about the make-up and how the character looks, but not about beauty and trying to make him look better with special lighting. He says if the camera is on my back and someone else’s face makes it look better, do that,” Scorsese said.
Scorsese compared De Niro to Leonardo DiCaprio, saying that he found a “similar fearlessness” in DiCaprio after watching him alongside De Niro in “The Boy’s Life,” and later collaborating with DiCaprio on films like “Wolf of Wall Street” and now “Killers of the Flower Moon,” co-starring De Niro.
“I found that we had a similar kind of sensibility that me and Bob had. We had a similar fearlessness, the will to try things, and ultimately, a very, very strong trust,” Scorsese said of DiCaprio. “We pushed each other to different limits. It’s a gift.”
Scorsese previously told Deadline that De Niro turned down appearing in “Gangs of New York” and “The Departed,” which would have made their collaborations 12 films altogether. “I didn’t work with Bob for 10 years until we did ‘Goodfellas’; we went off in different directions. Then we made another two, three films. And then, for another 19 years, we didn’t…So, with Bob, after ‘Casino’ we stopped for a while and I did ‘Kundun’ and ‘Bringing Out the Dead.’ And then ‘Gangs of New York.’ We always checked in, on that and everything else,” Scorsese said.
Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of their first collaboration, the 1973 crime drama “Mean Streets,” during a De Niro Con presentation at the Tribeca Film Festival. The event was moderated by legendary rapper Nas.
Scorsese recalled their first introduction at a Christmas dinner, where they were engaged in a conversation by another to-be-legendary filmmaker, Brian De Palma. “Bob was sitting there after dinner and then he looked at me and they had gone inside or something. He said, ‘You used to hang out with so-and-so and so-and-so.’ I said, ‘Yeah, how do you know?’ And he said, ‘I’m Bobby.’ I said, ‘Bobby? Bobby. Oh, my God. We had seen De Palma after doing ‘Hi, Mom!’ After you did that, he said, ‘You got to meet this guy.’ He added, ‘Then he had seen ‘Who’s That Knocking,’ and it was very accurate as to the nature of that subculture in the neighborhood. He identified with that, so when ‘Mean Streets’ was finally put together, he came on,'” Scorsese shared.
Robert De Niro also opened up about their partnership that spans 50 years. In a new issue for PEOPLE magazine, De Niro recalled that he has known Scorsese since they were teenagers. “We met at a Christmas dinner after I saw ‘Who’s That Knocking [at My Door],’ and I said, ‘That was a really terrific movie.’ He said, ‘I have the script.’ And ‘Mean Streets’ was at that time called ‘Season of the Witch,’ and so that’s how it started,” the 80-year-old actor shared.
For his part, Scorsese gushed over De Niro’s versatility in taking on various roles. “When Bob commits to a role, he starts digging in with research, questions about absolutely everything, from what the character wears to what he eats for breakfast,” the 81-year-old director said.
He continued, “At this point, I treasure the sheer longevity, the shared experience and knowledge. The trust. The love. And also, the desire to explore together, to go further.”
