The role Robert De Niro only played so he didn’t have to leave New York: “I could stay at home”
A strong case can be argued that the very best of Robert De Niro’s filmography is set in New York.
From the neighbouring boroughs in Goodfellas, the historic beginnings of Once Upon A Time In America, all the way to the unforgettable brutality of 1970s New York in Taxi Driver. Beyond the Italian-American drawl is an actor with his finger on the pulse of this city’s culture. Understanding those who exist in the sunlight of its power, as well as those who dwell in the shadows of suffering.
But his most recent New York project saw the famed actor take a different tack when it came to filmmaking. While he is perhaps the stoic face of the silver screen, going down with his ship, he decided to put his hand to the oh-so-popular format of a limited series. In fact, he not only starred in the lead role, but he also acted as the show’s executive producer.
“It’s like doing three features back-to-back,” De Niro said of Zero Day during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on February 19th. “It’s a lot of work, but it was well-written and I wanted to do something in New York for five or six months. It’s a political thriller.”
De Niro has made no bones about his distaste for the Trump presidential regime, and so a chance to tell a story of political corruption would have undoubtedly been appealing. But, it’s important in this context to note just how important the location played in the role. At the wise old age of 80, De Niro was unashamedly persuaded by convenience on this project, looking for a role that would be within touching distance of his home.
“I was talking to my agent, Josh Lieberman, and we were talking about doing something in New York so I could stay at home. He told me about you, and then we met out in Los Angeles. And then you guys came up with this whole thing, I guess a year later, and it was really good.”
But for De Niro, it was surely less about the convenience of his morning commute and more about facilitating an environment that would bring out the very best in him from a performance sense. Leading nearly every scene of a limited series is gruelling work, something De Niro was not yet accustomed to, and so setting it in New York would have undoubtedly benefited that.
But of course, it didn’t come at the detriment of the story. For one that delves into the murky waters of bureaucratic corruption, the seedy soil of New York proved a perfect environment. It has a palpable energy of fear, ambition and danger that was perfect for the show, and is also what has made it perfect for a whole host of De Niro projects in time gone by.
When asked why this city still remains so close to his heart and one he chooses to both work and live in, De Niro simply said, “There’s no place like New York.”
