Robert De Niro talks to Michele Manelis about his role in The Irishman and how his best is yet to come
You star with your old friend, Al Pacino, in The Irishman. Can you tell
me a bit about your relationship with him?
Al and I have known each other since we were in our 20s and we got together from time to time over the years and talked about stuff, especially as our situations changed and we felt we could talk about things that are hard to talk about with a lot of people other than those who have been in the same situation. So that's been a good thing for both of us. And with The Irishman, we had a good time doing it. It was the right one for us to do together.
How did you feel about looking at this younger version of yourself?
It was interesting. When we first started trying to get the project going, there was talk about younger actors who would stand in for me and Al and Joe [Pesci]. But then as time went on and we got older, technology improved in this area. Marty [Scorsese, director] decided to go with the idea of us being made to look younger. And it works.
Was the acting the same?
We needed a movement coach for when we were too slouched or not spry enough. Like, there was a scene where I go down the stairs to meet Ray Romano, and he pointed out to me that I was stepping a little more carefully. He said, "You are a young guy; you are 39, you jump down the stairs." So I had to learn to bounce down the stairs. I was happy about the technology. I always joke, it adds 30 years to my career.
I imagine you prefer ageing down than up?
Well, makeup-wise, it's easier to age than "youthify", as Marty says, that's his word, "youthification". He coined that, I think. It's easier to put stuff on and make you look older.