Robert De Niro says new TV series ‘Zero Day’ was “a lot of work” compared to movies
Hollywood icon Robert De Niro has admitted that his new limited series, Zero Day, was “a lot of work” and compared it to making three movies back-to-back.
Notably, Zero Day marks the first regular television project De Niro has starred in and executive produced. Although he has appeared as himself on several shows and played criminal Bernie Madoff in the television film The Wizard of Lies. Last year, he also starred in the streaming series Nada alongside Luis Brandoni, which aired on Disney+.
Zero Day arrived on Netflix on February 20th. The cast also includes Angela Bassett, Jesse Plemons and Lizzy Caplan.
In the new series, which consists of six hour-long episodes, De Niro is tasked with playing former president George Mullen who needs to come to the rescue after the United States is struck by a cyber attack which puts the entire nation at risk.
“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.”
Meanwhile, in the same interview, De Niro was asked by Colbert about his heroes, to which he responded, “Well, (Marlon) Brando, I knew him a little bit and did a movie with him,” De Niro said. “As young actors we all looked up to him. He was a very smart, interesting guy. Liked to talk a lot about interesting things.”
De Niro also said, “(Nelson) Mandela was a hero to me. I do think of the Capitol Police, the guys in the Capitol Police. The Metropolitan Police.” The legendary actor then name-checked retired police officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone, who served during the Capitol Riots on January 6th, before extending the honour of being his hero to “everybody else who was involved and affected and hurt by that”.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.