Would Robert De Niro have worked well with Alfred Hitchcock?
Seeing as Robert De Niro is widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time, it makes sense that he has also been one of the most sought-after film stars when it comes to directors looking for a leading man. Throughout his career, De Niro has understandably worked with some of the best filmmakers in the business.
We know full well that De Niro has collaborated with Martin Scorsese on several impressive occasions, including in the movies Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. Elsewhere, De Niro has also enjoyed the good fortune of working with the likes of David O. Russell and Sergio Leone.
Back in 1989, De Niro opened up about how he likes to be treated by a director, admitting that he largely enjoys being left to his own devices to figure out his character and scenes of his own accord. That’s precisely what Francis Ford Coppola allowed him to do in The Godfather Part II.
“He leaves you alone,” De Niro told Playboy. “He helps you in certain areas where you’re having trouble. Makes it comfortable for you. A director has to leave you alone and trust you. One thing about Francis, he casts people you wouldn’t think would be good or right for the part, and they turn out to be very good. I admire that.”
De Niro went on to explain that trust between actor and director is imperative in the actor being able to deliver a convincing performance. “You can talk about the problems,” he said. “Directors can’t be condescending or patronising to actors. Actors want to be helped, guided, given a lot of support.”
It was at that point that the interviewer suggested that De Niro would have been unable to work with Alfred Hitchcock, who was said to take a fully hands-on approach with his actors and “treat them like cattle”. De Niro agreed that he would have likely found Hitchcock’s methods too much unless, of course, he treated him as he wished.
“I don’t know,” the actor noted. “I’m not sure I couldn’t have given Hitchcock what he wanted, as long as he treated me with respect. If he was going to be an asshole, like I heard about Otto Preminger, who wants to work with somebody like that?” It sounds as though De Niro would have had serious reservations about working with the legendary British director.
He signed off on his thoughts about working with a director: “Sometimes actors want to know certain things before they feel comfortable. Actors ask a lot of questions. So it’s not right when a director says, ‘Just do the fucker’, without taking a moment to try and work with you. Some directors enjoy pulling you through, and others are more bored with it; they don’t have the patience.”
