The actor Robert De Niro chewed out for being disrespectful: “I never made that mistake again”
He might have done everything in his power to trash his own reputation over the past three decades or so, but Robert De Niro is still one of the all-time greats.
With multiple award victories, numerous iconic characters, and some of the best movies ever made under his belt, his accomplishments are undeniable. Even if he did make Little Fockers, which I think was recently reclassified as a war crime.
As well as being a great actor (when he can be bothered), De Niro is also an invaluable resource for younger stars to learn from, just ask Juliette Lewis. She worked with De Niro on the set of the underrated Martin Scorsese remake of Cape Fear. She plays a young girl whose family are terrorised by De Niro’s Max Cady, a demented and violent criminal.
In honour of her former co-star’s 72nd birthday, Lewis posted a story about him on her Instagram account. ‘Bob’, as she calls him, had just told her how great she was in Natural Born Killers. The following account is a complete grammatical nightmare, but in the spirit of journalistic integrity, I have reproduced it identically. You have been warned.
“Here we are Bob gives me a glorious compliment and instead of graciously accepting it, my 20 yrold insecure covered by pride- self says ‘Well yaknow I made up like 90 percent of what I did. I improvised and wrote scenes’,” Lewis wrote. “Bob looked at me sternly and said, ‘Oh no. No don’t ever disrespect the writer. Don’t you ever disrespect the writer or your director. Ever.’ In that one moment I realized so much, I felt like I grew 5 yrs. I never made that mistake again.”
Natural Born Killers hit the screen three years after Cape Fear and was just as divisive. It famously stars Lewis and Woody Harrelson as a pair of serial killer lovers who embark on a bloody rampage across the USA. The film became an instant target for conservative commentators, but played a major role in establishing Lewis as a cult queen. It was directed by Oliver Stone, himself no stranger to controversy, who co-wrote the screenplay with David Veloz and Richard Rutowski. The original idea for the story came from Quentin Tarantino.
As a performer, De Niro is as old school as they come. He’s a firm believer in mutual respect; if a director gives an actor leeway to find their character, then they should reciprocate by understanding and complying with their sense of authority.
It speaks volumes that his greatest collaborator – his cinematic soulmate – isn’t another actor, but one of the greatest directors of all time. Hearing Lewis disrespect writers and directors must have sent shivers down his spine, especially if he thought she might feel that way about his beloved Marty.
Whether Lewis genuinely did instantly respond to De Niro’s advice or just said that for effect, it’s clear that she now fully appreciates what he was trying to say. In an industry where tips are given freely (and often unwantedly), it’s nice to hear of an example of that paying off.
