The “obsessed” actor who said it was their “destiny” to work with Robert De Niro and never did
It’s not out of the ordinary for an actor to dream of working with Robert De Niro, because he’s one of the all-time greats. However, it’s definitely weird for an actor to gear their entire career toward sharing the screen with the iconic star, especially when that career is currently 40 years deep, and it hasn’t happened.
De Niro idolised Marlon Brando when he was an up-and-coming thespian, which, again, wasn’t unexpected. Most names of his generation were obsessed with the man who changed the profession forever, but it wasn’t as if he went out of his way to make sure he got to pit his wits against him.
He played the younger version of Brando’s Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II and won an Academy Award for it, but it wasn’t until The Score, almost four decades later, that they finally shared the same cast. The point is that it’s OK to have heroes, but it isn’t always advisable to make it the be-all and end-all.
Unfortunately, nobody told Elias Koteas. A recognisable face across film and television, he may not be a household name or particularly well-known figure among casual audiences, but he neatly fits into the ‘that guy from that thing you’ve seen’ category, popping up in films like David Cronenberg’s Crash, Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, and David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
He also bears a passing resemblance to De Niro, and Illeana Douglas explained his infatuation during their time as acting students, per Salon. “His main ambition back then was to be in a movie with Robert De Niro, hopefully one directed by Martin Scorsese. He was obsessed with all things Robert De Niro. I mean, he would make me eat at the Belmore Cafeteria, because ‘That’s where Travis Bickle ate in Taxi Driver.'”
Koteas wasn’t above a bit of stalking, either. “Elias started lurking around the set of The King of Comedy, which was filming near our school, trying to get spotted by De Niro so he could hopefully get a part in the movie purely based on their resemblance,” she added. He was spotted by the leading man, and instead of being cast, “someone from production told him to get the hell away from the set.”
That didn’t deter him, though, with Douglas revealing that he took it as “a sign that it was only a matter of time before he fulfilled his destiny and worked with De Niro for real.” Fast forward to today, and how many times has Koteas been in a De Niro film? Zero. Ironically, how many times has Douglas been in a De Niro film? Three, after playing supporting parts in Goodfellas, Cape Fear, and Guilty by Suspicion.
One positive is that Koteas did at least land a part in a Scorsese flick, playing Andrew Laeddis in Shutter Island in a small but memorable cameo. On the other hand, that pesky Douglas has been in four of them, adding The Last Temptation of Christ and New York Stories to her collection of movies that were either helmed by Scorsese, starred De Niro, or both.
There’s still time for the character actor to achieve his lifelong dream, or maybe he abandoned it a long time ago after realising that some goals will always remain unattainable, no matter how much you want them.
