How Robert De Niro changed himself for ‘Cape Fear’
The 1991 psychological thriller Cape Fear is one of the finest in the genre ever released, up there with the likes of Memento, The Silence of the Lambs, The Machinist, and pretty much the entire Alfred Hitchcock oeuvre. A remake of the 1962 film of the same name, which in turn was based on John D. MacDonald’s 1957 novel, The Executioners, many believe it to be better than the original and the source material, courtesy of the direction of Martin Scorsese, and a stellar cast.
It stars Robert De Niro in one of his most iconic and terrifying roles as the violent criminal Max Cady, as well as Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis as the Bowden’s, the family that Cady has in his sights after he was sent to prison because of Nolte’s character, the lawyer Sam. Elsewhere, Robert Mitchum has a small role, Martin Balsam a cameo, and Gregory Peck plays Lee Heller in his final film role. Interestingly, all three of these titans of cinema starred in the original movie.
Although Robert De Niro has played many memorable characters over the years, including a handful of villains that include the maniacal Travis Bickle in Scorsese’s 1976 masterpiece Taxi Driver and Al Capone in Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables, it is arguable that Max Cady is the most impressive.
A genuinely unnerving portrayal of a psychopath, it was so realistic that Cady entered many of our nightmares after first watching it. From the scene where he rapes and viciously beats Lori to killing the Bowden’s housekeeper Graciela and donning her clothing, the character is pure evil.
Whilst there are many scenes that live on in the memory, the most famous aspect of De Niro’s portrayal of Cady is his aesthetic. Sporting longer hair than we’ve ever seen the actor have, this is also the most ripped he’s ever been, with this hard look augmented by the presence of extreme Biblical tattoos. Added to this, his teeth are also ground down to piercing little razors.
It transpires that this powerful aesthetic didn’t come easy, and De Niro worked incredibly hard to achieve it. De Niro tirelessly worked out, as is evident in his physique, and so, towards the end of the movie Scorsese filmed all of his scenes topless. De Niro’s dedication didn’t end there either, he spent $5,000 on a dentist grinding his teeth down to make him look more evil, and after filming wrapped, he then spent $20,000 to have them fixed.
