The Wildest Robert De Niro Stories Ever Told
Ya’ll ready for some Robert De Niro true stories? Because it’s about to get real up in here. See, Robert De Niro comes from a time when celebrities were mysterious. When the faces on the silver screen were all the audience had of a star. When you didn’t know what everyone was having for lunch. But just because De Niro is enigmatic doesn’t mean there aren’t some great Robert De Niro stories out there. A lot of cool Robert De Niro stories come from his time before he a megastar, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t juicy, more recent, equally as true Robert De Niro stories. After all, when President Obama gives you an award for being you, you’re on to something.
Because De Niro is mostly known for intense dramatic roles, it makes sense to ask, is Robert De Niro funny? If these personal stories, many of which were told by friends, are to be believed, he’s way funnier than any of his characters. If you can’t believe the guy who played Travis Bickle can ham it up, you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you read through these real Robert De Niro stories. And when you’re done, check out our list of Robert De Niro’s best movies.
Photo: Universal Pictures
He Requested A Real Bullet Be Placed In The Russian Roulette Gun In ‘The Deer Hunter’
He Requested A Real Bullet Be Placed In The Russian Roulette Gun In ‘The Deer Hunter’
Photo: Universal Pictures
While filming one of the most intense scenes in one of the most intense films ever (The Deer Hunter), De Niro heightened the tension on set when he insisted there be a live bullet in the gun he and his fellow actors were using to play Russian roulette. According to people who worked on the set, the bullet was removed prior to filming any shots were the trigger was pulled. This is a story that could only have happened in the 1970s, and it is amazing and frightening. Robert De Niro, you are a beautiful maniac.
He Financed A Super Weird Video Game Designed To Compete With Myst
He Financed A Super Weird Video Game Designed To Compete With Myst
Photo: Warner Bros.
By the time the ’90s rolled around, De Niro could do whatever he wanted. He’d made at least five classic films, and his production company, Tribeca, was super successful. So he decided to do what anyone would in such circumstances, finance a video game harnessing the combined talents of Stereocopic 3D champion Buzz Hays, Jim Belushi, and Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith.
According to Hays, the goal to was make a weirder version of Myst, which is a noble pursuit if ever there were one. Says Hays, “Myst had already had its day in the sun. It was still, in many peoples’ eyes, the finest video game ever to be created. So we decided to try and do a more irreverent version of that.”
Unfortunately, the game was dead in the water before it was released, but no one seems too broken up about the truly weird experience. “For us it was just this funny nostalgic time when we got to do this crazy thing in this tiny warehouse in San Francisco,” said Hays.
“We had such a good time making this thing that at the end of the day, it kind of didn’t matter whether people loved it or not.”
Bobby Loves Disguises
Bobby Loves Disguises
Photo: Warner Bros.
Move over Austin Powers, Robert De Niro is the real international man of mystery. According to Sally Kirkland, who you’ve seen in everything from Bruce Almighty to JFK and hundreds of TV shows, when De Niro was first auditioning in New York City he, “had this composite he’d carry around with him to auditions—25 pictures of himself in various disguises. In one he was like an IBM executive, in another a professor with glasses and a goatee…”
But his disguises didn’t end there. In Illeana Douglas’ memoir I Blame Dennis Hopper: And Other Stories From a Life Lived In and Out of the Movies, she says the first time she met the notoriously shy actor was when she went to a meeting with Martin Scorsese, to discuss her role in Goodfellas. But there was something off about him.
“[W]ho did I see coming the other way but Robert De Niro. There was no official word that Robert De Niro was in the movie, or even considering being in the movie, so I got a secret little thrill that maybe that’s why he was leaving Marty’s.
I smiled politely at him as I passed by and respectfully and quietly said, ‘Hello.’ He politely nodded back, said, ‘Hello,’ and we both kept walking. I did notice that he was wearing large horn-rimmed glasses. Marty opened the door for me, and I said, ‘I just said hello to Robert De Niro. Does that mean he’s going to be in the movie?’And Marty looked a little concerned and said, ‘You recognized him?’
I laughed, and said, ‘Of course. He’s Robert De Niro!’ And he said, ‘But he was wearing a disguise.’ And I said, ‘Marty, he was wearing glasses.'”
He Doesn’t Want To Talk To You
He Doesn’t Want To Talk To You
Photo: Warner Bros
Like some other great actors, De Niro suffers the contradiction of loving an art that gets him worldwide exposure while seriously disliking worldwide exposure. For a 1987 Vanity Fair profile, De Niro’s former secretary, Trixie Bourne, who also worked for Steve McQueen and Jack Nicholson, explained various ways she diverted those looking to speak to the actor (including the reporter).
“Mr. De Niro is traveling” was Bourne’s default response, though she would also use “Mr. De Niro is out of the country,” “I’ll have to get back to you,” or “We’ll see about that.” Apparently, De Niro once accidentally answered his own phone, and mumbled “Yeah, hello . . . this is Bob. I’ll put Trixie on.”
According to a friend of De Niro’s, “Bobby never answers his own phone. And he calls you—you never call him.”
Eventually, Trixie had to keep it real with Patricia Bosworth, who wrote the Vanity Fair piece: “Mr. De Niro will probably never talk to you, but he is giving you permission to talk to his friends.”
He Wants To Punch Trump In The Face And Thinks Obama Gets A Bad Rap
He Wants To Punch Trump In The Face And Thinks Obama Gets A Bad Rap
Photo: New Line Cinema
De Niro may be reticent to discuss his personal life in interviews, he doesn’t shy away from promoting political activism any chance he gets. He was incredibly vocal against the rise of dum-dum conservatism led by Donald Trump, saying he’d like to punch the orange one in the face.
But De Niro isn’t all piss and vinegar; he’s soft-spoken when it comes to personal political causes. While speaking at India’s Think Summit, he discussed how hard it is for someone like President Obama to make level-headed, sincere decisions: “Obama’s heart is in the right place and he has to pick his battles. It’s easy to criticize someone like him…. but he is a decent person. Some of the Republicans are just trying to win at all costs.”
Harvey Keitel Explains How De Niro Reads Scripts
At the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors, Robert De Niro received what can only be described as a lifetime achievement award to the nth degree alongside Bruce Springsteen, Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, and Grace Bumbry. President Obama presented the award.
The greatest story told De Niro that evening came from frequent co-star Harvey Keitel: “One day, Robby comes to me and he says, ‘Harvey, you know how an actor reads a script don’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He says, ‘Let me show you.'” Keitel then mimed flipping through a script while saying, “Bullsh*t, bullsh*t, bullsh*t, my part. Bullsh*t…”
De Niro Goes So Method He Learned Sax And Gained 50 Pounds
De Niro Goes So Method He Learned Sax And Gained 50 Pounds
Photo: United Artists
If you’re wondering why all of De Niro’s most famous characters are so brutally intense, it’s because he applies Stella Adler’s acting method to everything he does, whether it’s gaining weight for a role, learning how to shoot, or playing the saxophone.
For Taxi Driver, De Niro went to a gun range regularly, and for his Oscar-winning turn as Jake La Motta in Raging Bull, he spent a year in the ring before trashing his sinewy physique by gorging on pasta and ice cream, gaining 50 pounds for the final portion of the film. He once said, “I feel I have to earn the right to play a part.”
Liza Minnelli remembers De Niro’s work ethic while filming New York, New York. “I’d leave the studio around twelve midnight, and I could hear the wail of a saxophone. As a musician he was fabulous. That’s the way he found the character—through the music. That’s the way he put it together.”
He Doesn’t Know How to Drive (At Least He Didn’t In 1970, At 27)
He Doesn't Know How to Drive (At Least He Didn't In 1970, At 27)
Photo: Columbia Pictures
While filming the Roger Corman film Bloody Mama, De Niro was meant to drive like a maniac through a field in Arkansas. In the finished product, you see the first take of the scene, because everyone was too scared to film a second. In 1987, Shelly Winters explained to Vanity Fair: “In one scene he had to drive us in this car. The cameras roll. Suddenly we’re careening around this field, and it’s like he’s out of control at the wheel. I whispered, ‘Bobby, do you know how to drive?’ and he grinned. ‘Are you kidding? I’m from New York. Why would I know how to drive?'”