The one performance Robert De Niro calls “awful”
When considering some of the greatest performances of all time, the roles of Robert De Niro take up several spots, rubbing shoulders with Joaquin Phoenix in The Master, Marlon Brando in The Godfather, and Meryl Streep in Kramer vs Kramer. Collaborating with Martin Scorsese for a collection of cinema’s very best movies, De Niro has inspired countless other performers to strive for artistic greatness.
Rising to influence at the tail-end of the 1960s, it was in the following decade that De Niro would truly find his feet, working with Scorsese for the very first time in 1973 for the crime drama Mean Streets. What followed was a remarkable trio of consecutive movies, later appearing in the back-to-back critical achievements of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part II and Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.
His iconic performance as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver remains his most enduring role, dedicating himself physically and mentally to the character in order to pull off some of cinema’s greatest moments. Despite this, when speaking about his favourite performance, he unusually opts for the 2009 film Everybody’s Fine, co-starring the likes of Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale.
There were some roles that De Niro was utterly obsessed with, however, and the towering figure of Al Capone in 1987’s The Untouchables was one of them. “He’s a bigger-than-life character,” the actor stated in a 1989 interview with Playboy, “And I liked the way it was written in the film. I had told Brian De Palma that I would consider doing Capone if it was ever written right. I’d seen it done other times, and I didn’t particularly care for the way it was done”.
De Niro usually keeps pretty tight-lipped about quite how much he likes his own performances, and this often goes for other actors too. However, he was quick to criticise one particular star when pushed further by the publication.
“I thought it was awful,” De Niro stated, referring to Paul Muni’s starring role in Howard Hawks’ critically acclaimed 1932 crime flick Scarface, with the actor having based his character partly on Capone. Continuing in his tirade, he adds: “He’s the biggest ham. It was so hammy. You could see he was possibly a great stage actor, but a lot of his movies were over the top. Like I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang,” criticising the five-time Academy Award nominee.
Scarface is far better known for its remake in 1983, where Al Pacino starred as the titular gangster. Helmed by Brian De Palma, the classic crime movie tells the story of a Cuban immigrant who takes over a drug cartel and is destroyed by his own greed in the stylish society of 1980s Miami. Known as one of the greats of its genre, the film remains utterly iconic for its violent tale and dark evaluation of the American dream.
When asked about Pacino’s performance, De Niro was entirely more favourable: Well, that’s a different thing. In fact, I wanted to do a remake of Scarface with Marty [Scorsese], then Pacino told me that he was thinking of doing it. I said to him, ‘If you don’t do it, I’m gonna do it.’ But I would have done it the way it was written, not the way they did it”.
