Praised for his commitment to roles (stemming from his background in
Method acting), De Niro gained 50
pounds (27
kg) and learned how to
box for his portrayal of
Jake LaMotta in ''
Raging Bull'', ground his teeth for ''
Cape Fear'', lived in
Sicily for ''
The Godfather Part II'', worked as a cab driver for three months for ''
Taxi Driver,'' and learned to play the
saxophone for ''
New York, New York''. He also put on weight and shaved his hairline to play
Al Capone in ''
The Untouchables''.
De Niro’s brand of Method acting includes employing whatever extreme tactic he feels is necessary to elicit the best performance from those he is acting with. During the filming of ''
The King of Comedy'', De Niro directed a slew of
anti-Semitic epithets at co-star
Jerry Lewis. An enraged Lewis claims he was “going for Bobby’s throat”.
Although unmistakably better known for his roles in
Scorsese's films, he starred in
Sergio Leone's last film: a four-hour gangster movie titled ''
Once Upon a Time in America''. Leone had spent almost ten years of his life trying to obtain the rights to get the film, which unfortunately underplayed both with critics and audiences alike. Leone still found it better than his previous films (i.e. ''
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly''). He even said that Robert de Niro was a real actor, unlike
Clint Eastwood.
Fearing he had become typecast in mob roles, De Niro from the mid-1980s began expanding into occasional comedic roles, and has had much success there as well with such films as ''
Brazil'' (1985), in which he had a small role; the hit action-comedy ''
Midnight Run'' (1988), ''
Showtime'' (2002) opposite
Eddie Murphy; and the film-and-sequel pairs ''
Analyze This'' (1999) and ''
Analyze That'' (2002), and ''
Meet the Parents'' (2000) and ''
Meet the Fockers'' (2004).
Other films include ''
Falling in Love'' (1984), ''
The Mission'' (1986), ''
Angel Heart'' (1987) ''
Heat'' (1995), ''
Wag the Dog'' (1997) and ''
Ronin'' (1998). In 1997, he reteamed with
Harvey Keitel and
Ray Liotta, along with
Sylvester Stallone, in the crime drama ''
Cop Land''. De Niro proved he was able to play a supporting role taking a back seat to Stallone, Keitel and Liotta.
De Niro is considered a skilled observer of physical and trivial details, from the way a cigarette is held by a mobster in ''
GoodFellas'' to the kind of shirt-jacket the character needed to wear in ''
Raging Bull''. In 1995 De Niro starred in
Michael Mann's ''
Heat'', along with fellow actor
Al Pacino. The duo drew much attention from fans as both have generally been compared throughout their careers. Though both Pacino and De Niro starred in ''
The Godfather Part II'', they shared no screen time. In
May 2007, Variety.com reported that De Niro and Pacino will star as police investigators hunting a serial killer in thriller ''
Righteous Kill''.
In 2004, De Niro read for the voice of Don Lino, the antagonist in ''
Shark Tale'', opposite
Will Smith. This was De Niro's first experience with
voice acting. When interviewed about his role in ''Shark Tale'', De Niro said that participating in an animated cartoon was one of funniest aspects of his Hollywood career. He also reprised his role as Jack Byrnes in ''
Meet the Fockers''. Both films were very successful at the
box office, but received mixed reviews.
De Niro had to turn down a role in ''
The Departed'' (
Martin Sheen taking the role instead) due to commitments preparing ''
The Good Shepherd''. He said "I wanted to. I wish I could've been able to, but I was preparing ''The Good Shepherd'' so much that I couldn't take the time to. I was trying to figure a way to do it while I was preparing. It just didn't seem possible."
In De Niro's next project, he directed and co-starred in ''
The Good Shepherd'' (2006), also starring
Matt Damon and
Angelina Jolie. The movie also reunited him onscreen with
Joe Pesci, with whom De Niro had starred in ''Raging Bull'', ''
Once Upon A Time in America'', ''
Goodfellas'', ''
A Bronx Tale'' and ''Casino''.
On
June 7, 2006, it was announced that De Niro donated his film archive, including scripts, costumes, and props, to the
Harry Ransom Center at
The University of Texas at Austin. De Niro has said that he is working with
Martin Scorsese on a new project. "I'm trying to actually work...Eric Roth (screenwriter) and myself and Marty are working on a script now, trying to get it done."
De Niro has won two
Academy Awards: Best Actor for his role in ''Raging Bull''; and
Best Supporting Actor for ''
The Godfather Part II''.
De Niro and
Marlon Brando are the only actors who won Academy Awards for portraying the same character: Brando won for playing the elderly
Don Vito Corleone (though he declined the award) in ''
The Godfather'' while De Niro later won the award for playing the young Vito in ''The Godfather Part II''. Brando and De Niro came together onscreen for the first and only time in ''
The Score'' (2001). De Niro actually auditioned for the role of Sonny in the first ''Godfather'' but the role was given to
James Caan. When ''The Godfather Part II'' was in preproduction, the director,
Francis Ford Coppola, remembered De Niro's audition, and cast him to play the young Vito Corleone. De Niro's performance is one of only four to win an Academy Award for working in a foreign language, as he primarily spoke
Italian, with very few phrases in English.
De Niro is acting in the role of a mobster in
Paramount Pictures's upcoming movie ''Frankie Machine''
