Bradley Cooper names his favourite Robert De Niro scenes: “I’ve seen everything”
Having spent the first decade of his career dreaming about working with his idol, Bradley Cooper lucked out in a major way when he made two movies with Robert De Niro in quick succession.
Neil Burger’s sci-fi thriller Limitless and David O Russell’s romantic dramedy Silver Linings Playbook released within two years of each other, with co-stars and colleagues having plenty to talk about after they both received Academy Award nominations for the latter.
It can often be a double-edged sword for anyone to meet their idol, but Cooper couldn’t have been happier that De Niro lived up to the image he’d had in his head. It was Martin Scorsese’s muse who first inspired him to become an actor, and now they were shooting the breeze like old buddies without a care in the world.
Cooper would be the first to admit his knowledge of De Niro’s eclectic and esteemed filmography borders on the encyclopaedic. While some folks would rather single out performances as indicative of the all-timer’s greatness onscreen, Cooper broke it down even further by focusing on specific scenes.
None of them hailed from the usual candidates, either, with the star instead focusing on some more unheralded entries in the De Niro back catalogue at the expense of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas. If anything, it just goes to show the impression the legendary method man had made.
“The Mission, when he’s carrying the rocks up to the mission, there was something about that moment when he lands, and he’s crying, and they’re touching his face,” Cooper explained to Black Film. “Awakenings, when he dances with Penelope Anne Miller in the hospital, and then she leaves.”
Both of them feature incredible De Niro performances, but Roland Joffé’s spiritual drama and Penny Marshall’s biopic wouldn’t necessarily be the first thing that came to mind were anyone to try and name the actor’s greatest scenes off the top of their head. Of course, it’s merely illustrative of Cooper’s fandom.
His extended cameo in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables and his mysterious disappearance amidst a mountainous stack of paperwork in Terry Gilliam’s Brazil also got a special mention, but there’s a very good reason why Cooper’s memory is drawn to the sequences that perhaps wouldn’t make the most obvious retrospective highlight reel.
“I mean, I’ve seen everything,” was his explanation for digging further into the back catalogue, which raises the question if he really has devoured every shred of De Niro there’s ever been. After all, surely a self-proclaimed superfan who claims to have watched every single one of his credits would have even subjected themselves to Godsend, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, and his dreadful reunion with Al Pacino in Righteous Kill? Sadly, it remains unknown.
