Robert De Niro discusses the comedians he loves the most
For an artist like Robert De Niro, genre frameworks usually don’t play a huge role when it comes to the preparation process for a role. That’s exactly why there are undercurrents of humour in De Niro’s dark performance in Taxi Driver as well as hints of tragedy in his inexplicable outings in trashy flicks such as Dirty Grandpa. It is this versatility that has solidified his status in film history, garnering critical acclaim and commercial success along the way.
Due to the incredibly diverse nature of his filmography, a lot of aspiring actors don’t just watch De Niro’s finest acting work, but they also routinely study his worst roles to get a better understanding of how he handles his material. The extensive mythology of the Taxi Driver star is full of crazy stories about his acting process, including multiple accounts of the time when he sharpened his teeth to enter the proper mental space for Cape Fear.
During a 1989 conversation with Playboy, De Niro opened up about his approach: “You can’t give what you don’t have or what you’re not able to give. Once you give up more than what you have, you’re lying, you’re forcing something. You have to trust yourself and do it as simply as you can. Don’t try to bring something that’s not there. Some actors do a lot more, and right away, you see it; you see they’re trying very hard, and it’s not credible. Simple is hard.”
In the same interview, the journalist mentioned that Martin Scorsese had cited De Niro as the only actor who was always able to truly surprise him with his on-screen work. When asked about the iconic performing artists who have managed to surprise him, the Raging Bull actor cited the comedians he loved the most. According to him, these expert practitioners of comedy often caught him off-guard with their craft.
“Comedians I love, like [John] Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd,” De Niro declared. “They’re all terrific. They surprise me. They do some crazy stuff.” A few years after the interview, he would star alongside Murray and Uma Thurman in a crime comedy called Mad Dog and Glory which has now been relegated to the largely forgotten chunks of De Niro’s enormous oeuvre.
Belushi, admittedly among Robert De Niro’s favourites, also starred in an SNL production revolving around The Godfather: the film franchise that became an invaluable addition to De Niro’s body of work. In the scene, Belushi demonstrated his comic genius as a mob boss in therapy, a concept that would lead to the creation of one of the greatest shows of all time in the form of The Sopranos.
Watch John Belushi’s famous The Godfather SNL skit below.
