“Exploring the Iconic Legacy of Robert De Niro: A Journey Through the Legendary Actor’s Career”
De Niro Roberto
“Robert De Niro, 80, muses about family, life, and parenting
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Video: Robert De Niro at 80 years old, talking about Martin Scorsese and playing a newborn
Robert De Niro sits in front of me, shakes my hand, and carefully navigates the complexities as he attempts to comprehend the nature of evil. “I’m trying to figure out how it works,” he says, pointing out that “people at the center of some of the most pivotal moments in history are often how ordinary they are.”
Of course, he talks about his most recent movie , “Killers of the Flower Moon,” in which he plays William King Hale, the real-life mastermind of a scheme to assassinate Osage Nation members in return for oil. (His performance garnered De Niro his ninth Oscar nomination and the Best Supporting Actor prize at the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards.)
“William Hale is a very charming and polite man,” says De Niro.He finds the Osage appealing. or believes he does. And he believes they like him, which is undoubtedly the case for some of them. He interacts with them one-on-one and speaks their language. It’s nearly as if it’s “personal.”
“Hi there, people. We’ve been reluctant as a country to share some stories because, well, they’re not exactly the shining moments in our past. But, well, the past hurts. It simply does. And let me tell you something, it’s not easy to admit, but I was unaware of the Black Wall Street incident—the racist massacre in Tulsa in ’21—for a significant portion of my life. Is it really true? Really, it’s amazing that our schools didn’t teach everything about something so important. It appears as though they purposefully omitted it from the curriculum. Did we lose out on a lot of things?
He smoothes back his hair and rubs both hands over his forehead, as if he’s trying to keep whatever’s there from exploding. De Niro looks amazing in his insane moments. Hold on, scratch him; there’s no denying his beauty. The amazing thing is that he has portrayed numerous guys with dark and twisted souls during the previous 20 years, and in each of those roles, he has appeared twisted and withered. In August, he turned eighty. However, the man who just walked in and shook my hand appears to be 60 years old and was sailing off the Amalfi Coast last week. He’s dressed all in blue today—jacket, turtleneck, and pants. Both the individual and the group are excellent. both modest and astute.
“Can I talk to you about the way you walk?” I inquire. A rhythm. De Niro blinked. The question strikes him as odd. One more beat. I inquired because there’s a certain quality to Robert De Niro’s self-presentation. As soon as he broke through the door, I was reminded of a standard scene from “Killers,” in which William Hale is seen at 4 a.m. from both the side and the back of the corner. Hale is another person who traverses the world, but his physicality makes us aware of that fact. His back stiffens, his shoulders slump, and a question mark appears. He’s wrenched his spine, broken his soul, and smeared the poison on the Osage people he purports to love.
That, in a nutshell, is classic De Niro. He stays attentive and cordial during our time together. He also gets upset from time to time. But he doesn’t cook; he reacts from the beginning to the end. Moreover, his voice never gets louder than a soft piano. He doesn’t like my jokes. However, someone makes an attempt.”
