The foul-mouthed co-star who earned Robert De Niro’s respect: “Go fuck yourself”
Throughout a long and uncompromising career, Robert De Niro has worked with some of the biggest names in cinema, as well as many lesser-known talents. For countless actors, simply being in the same room as him would be a dream, let alone sharing the screen. While starring in a film alongside De Niro is an incredible honour, the ultimate accolade is earning the respect of one of the greatest actors of all time.
But how does one actually get into De Niro’s good books? Is it by delivering a show-stopping performance? Working tirelessly on set? Perhaps even confessing you thought Little Fockers was underrated? According to one source, the unexpected key to earning De Niro’s respect might just be something far simpler—and riskier: cussing him out.
During an interview with Collider, actor John Ashton told a story about the audition process for the 1988 movie Midnight Run. “You have to audition with Bob De Niro” is what director Martin Brest told him. “So I went and I had an audition with Bob.” Part of the scene involved De Niro handing Ashton some matches, but instead, The Godfather actor just threw them on the ground. “I looked at the matches, and I looked up, and I said, ‘Fuck you’, and he said, ‘Fuck you, too’. I said, ‘Go fuck yourself’.”
You might think that telling a Presidential Medal of Freedom winner to cram it would sink any chances of working with him, but according to Ashton, this actually worked in his favour. “I know every other actor picked those up and handed it to him, and I found out as soon as I left he went, ‘I want him’, because he wanted somebody to stand up to him.” Ashton later confirmed that, despite their initial fiery exchange, he and De Niro “got along great” while making the movie.
The end result, Midnight Run, is an action comedy also starring Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, Joe Pantoliano (who originally turned Ashton onto the project), and Phillip Baker Hall. De Niro plays bounty hunter Jack Walsh, who is charged with bringing in a mob accountant (Grodin). Unfortunately, he’s not the only one after him, as another bounty hunter, the FBI, and the mafia are all on his tail. Ashton plays the part of Marvin Dorfler, a fellow hunter and fierce rival of Walsh’s. The movie was a success, earning $82million on a $35m budget and bagging De Niro a Golden Globe nomination for ‘Best Actor in Musical or Comedy’ for good measure.
Elsewhere in the interview, which was done to promote Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Ashton’s co-star Judge Reinhold revealed he was also in the picture for Midnight Run. “I read for the Grodin role,” he said. “But then I found out that they were just waiting for him to be available. Paramount was saying, ‘No, we can’t wait for Grodin’. So, to stall, they started reading people and even had Cher in there. They had everybody in Hollywood reading for that role because they were stalling waiting for Charles Gordin to be available.”
Ashton shed some light on this by revealing that “they moved it from Paramount to Universal. When they wanted to bring Cher in, Marty went and took it to Universal. Originally, they wanted Richard Dreyfuss for Gordin’s role.”
Alas, Axel F would be the final John Ashton film released during his lifetime. The actor passed away on September 26th, 2024, following a battle with cancer. His representatives described him as “a loving husband, brother, father, and grandfather who will be deeply missed by all who knew him”.
