The one movie Robert De Niro regretted starring in with Al Pacino: “Next time we’ll do one we like”
The late 1960s and early 1970s marked a transformative time for cinema. The American film industry shifted, making way for bolder stylistic and thematic explorations of taboo topics that were previously banned under the Hays Code, allowing considerably more violence and nihilism to seep into the mainstream. New filmmakers and actors emerged during this time, defining the New Hollywood era with their considerably more modern approach, and two of the biggest were Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.
Rising to prominence at the same time, the pair soon became close pals, and they’ve remained friends ever since. They’ve watched the industry change together, and they’ve even worked with the same directors, like Brian De Palma, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese, eventually starring in multiple titles together.
The pair met before either of them were famous, although they were both cutting their teeth in small acting roles in their attempts to break into the industry. Pacino had spent some time on stage, while De Niro appeared in various movies, and when they met, they knew that they were journeying down the same path. “I remember the meeting very clearly. Unbelievably, I saw this guy, I thought, Wow, he’s got such charisma. He wasn’t doing anything. He was just walking. Remember? You know, he was Bob. But you felt something from him,” Pacino once explained to GQ.
They first appeared alongside each other in The Godfather Part II, with Pacino playing Michael Corleone, while De Niro starred as the younger version of his father, Vito, originally portrayed by Marlon Brando in the first film. After the success of the sequel, which is regarded as one of the greatest of all time, the pair wouldn’t share the screen again until 1995’s Heat, which was also highly acclaimed.
The pair just seem to get each other, having worked in the same circle their whole lives, and both opting for gritty roles. However, there was a time when they agreed to work on a movie together that didn’t turn out as admirably as The Godfather Part II or Heat. In fact, it was a huge flop on all accounts, and the pair wished they’d never done it.
The movie was Righteous Kill, released in 2008 and directed by Jon Avnet. The movie had an interesting premise, with the pair playing detectives investigating a murder which comes to resemble a previous case they worked on, but it was criticised for being poorly executed, with a questionable ending and lazy writing.
Discussing the movie’s premiere, which was flooded with fans of the iconic pair, De Niro told Variety, “I said, ‘This is a great reaction, but it would be nice if they were here for a movie that we really feel proud about. Next time we’ll do one we like.’”
Unfortunately, the movie just didn’t hit the mark for either of the actors, but luckily, they did make amends in the future. Just over a decade later, they starred in Scorsese’s The Irishman, a three-and-a-half-hour epic gangster movie that earned acclaim from critics. The duo redeemed themselves, proving that if you give them a good script, they can certainly deliver.
