To say that he owes his career would probably be a gross exaggeration, but the fact is that the actor, who is almost 30 years younger than me, owes a lot to him. It was De Niro who quickly realized that the youngster had great potential and he had the deciding vote on whether the 15-year-old would star in a joint film with him. When this engagement was successful, while still shooting for this project, De Niro began to praise the newcomer quite spontaneously during a telephone conversation with him and warmly recommended the director to work with him in the future.
When De Niro met DiCaprio
Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio first met during auditions for the 1993 biographical drama “Boys’ World” based on the memoirs of writer Tobias Wolff. About 400 young actors competed for the main role, including DiCaprio and others. Toby McGuire, later known from Spiderman films. They both made it to the final round, but after the audition, Leo was convinced that he had failed. At that stage, De Niro was rehearsing with the young actors the most brutal scenes from the script, including the brawl with the jar of mustard. Years later, Leonardo DiCaprio recalled in an interview:
I remember that mustard scene and thinking, Damn, I have to do something worth remembering. Something that will shock these people. So I went there, we’re playing, De Niro shoves this jar in my face and shouts, ‘Is it empty?’ Is this jar empty?’
Then I got up, threw my chair or something and screamed at him at the top of my lungs, ‘Nooooooo. It’s not empty.’ Bob’s grimace then appeared on his face and it grew deeper and deeper. He finally laughed in my face, looked around the room, and everyone started laughing too.
DiCaprio realized that his stunt did not have the expected effect: – Then I thought: Damn, I screwed up. I lost my chance. But I think when you’re 15, there’s a lot you don’t understand. They must have liked something after all, because Bob said, “This kid was,… there was something interesting about it,” he recalls of that fateful interrogation. De Niro allegedly advised him to try to tone it down a bit. – That’s what I did, I lowered my voice. I then learned a valuable lesson that some things are only good up to a certain level. Years later, DiCaprio thanked De Niro for “giving him a chance and allowing him to work with him and observe what the workshop of the most experienced actor of our times looks like.”
De Niro then did something more. He was so impressed with Leo that while they were working on the set of “Boys’ World” he told Martin Scorsese about DiCaprio on the phone. Already in 2014, the director reported their conversation: – Robert De Niro told me: By the way, I work with such a kid. It’s really good. You should work with him sometime. His name is DiCaprio. I replied: Okay. Then the last thing Robert and I did together was Cape Fear, our seventh film together. We haven’t seen each other that often since then. So the fact that he recommended someone to me so unexpectedly during a phone conversation was very, very special – noted the director.
“Boy’s World” made young DiCaprio gain recognition among film critics, and he received his first industry New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. In the same year, he played the brother of the main character of the film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, suffering from oligophrenia (intellectual disability), which basically cemented his success. Since then, he was referred to as “the new Marlon Brando”, DiCaprio quickly became a teenage idol, and the role itself earned him his first Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, as well as National Board of Review statuettes and another New Generation Award.
It is worth emphasizing that DiCaprio prepared really well for work on the set of “Gilbert Grape” – in order to play his character well, he spent a long time visiting nursing homes and therapeutic centers for children struggling with similar ailments as his character. He acted out what he observed so convincingly that some wondered whether a person with an intellectual disability had actually been involved. Even Martin Scorsese was fooled.
The director admitted that “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” he didn’t see it in the cinema, but once he saw a movie on TV. “My wife and I watched it and I was convinced it was a documentary. I didn’t know. I didn’t recognize Johnny Depp. The mother was great there, and Leo amazed me. Then I realized it was a fiction film. I started to wonder, who is this boy? Then we saw his name on the credits and I realized it was the name De Niro had given me earlier,” Deadline reports. However, it took a while for Scorsese to cast DiCaprio in his project. Their first film together was “Gangs of New York” in 2002. Next came “The Aviator” in 2004, and in 2006 they met on the set of “The Departed,” which eventually won Scorsese an Oscar for best director. After four years, they made “Shutter Island” together, and the next one was the cult “The Wolf of Wall Street”.
The student bit the master?
Scorsese, meanwhile, worked intensively with Robert De Niro for years. They first met on set in 1973 – they started shooting “Mean Streets”. The next one was groundbreaking for both of them and the famous “Taxi Driver”. Already then, De Niro actually had something of a mentor, because before shooting, he stubbornly insisted on practicing scenes together with the then 12-year-old Jodie Foster. Even though she was reluctant at the time and wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as he was, when she received subsequent awards years later, she also thanked De Niro for teaching her so much about acting.
After “Taxi Driver”, Scorsese and De Niro made the musical “New York, New York” in 1977. Their cooperation continued to be excellent, because in 1980 they prepared together the Oscar-winning “Raging Bull” for De Niro, and three years later “The King of Comedy” was released in cinemas. Several good years had to pass before they met again on the set. It was only in 1990 that they recorded “Goodfellas”. A year later they made “Cape Fear”, and in 1995 they made “Casino” – their eighth film together. Then their paths diverged, and Scorsese started making a film about the Dalai Lama (“Kundun” from 1997) and had an adventure with Nicolas Cage in “Dark Side”. Then the DiCaprio era began for the director.
De Niro or DiCaprio – who is Martin Scorsese’s favorite actor?
The fact that Martin Scorsese likes to cast Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio the most makes all three of them laugh at themselves. Indeed, in 2015, Scorsese directed a short and very expensive advertisement for Asian casinos on this topic. It was titled “Audition” and, as you might guess, it was based on the idea that these two actors had to fight for the main role in a new film by a cult director. The whole thing lasts 16 minutes and, as you can read on the IMdB website, the budget of this production was a mere $70 million (thus breaking the record of Chanel, which once spent $33 million on advertising). De Niro and DiCaprio reportedly received $13 million each for two days of shooting.
Nevertheless, “Audition” was actually the director’s first professional meeting with Robert De Niro in a decade. It must have been really nice, because when Scorsese made “The Irishman” with Netflix in 2019, De Niro played the main role. But only the latest “Time of the Blood Moon” is a production in which the director did not have to choose between his favorites. This is not only the first feature-length film in which Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio starred together since “Marvin’s Room” in 1996. It’s also their first feature film, apart from the above-mentioned advertisement, directed by Scorsese – and from what the director recently said, it’s easy to understand why he waited with such a project until now.
How did DiCaprio piss off Scorsese and De Niro?
There is no doubt that Blood Moon is a strong candidate for an Oscar. Reviewers agree that both Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio deserve at least nominations, as does Lily Galdstone. It is already expected that the Academy should also appreciate the directing, and the production will undoubtedly compete for the statuette for the best film. The title already has 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. positive reviews from film critics.
The film has excellent ratings, but there were some tensions on the set. Martin Scorsese, at a press conference he organized recently, talked about the different acting temperaments of his two favorites. Let’s remember that DiCaprio has developed his own status as a total actor over the last 30 years and he no longer has to approach De Niro from the position of an apprentice. He has his own proven working methods, but it turns out that these methods do not necessarily correspond to others. Why?
DiCaprio approaches the script much more freely than Robert De Niro and allows himself numerous improvisations. In addition, he likes to talk through subsequent scenes for a long time and in depth, which his on-screen partner and director do not necessarily have the patience for. Scorsese told reporters:
There were moments where Bob and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. And then we told him this one [zaimprowizowany – przyp.red.] dialogue is completely unnecessary here.
Another issue is Robert De Niro’s famous taciturnity. Jodie Foster still laughs in various interviews, for example in the programs of Jimmy Fallon and Johnathan Ross, that the actor is definitely not an overly talkative person and it is really difficult to get him to talk. Journalists found this out the hard way when De Niro visited them. And in contrast, Leonardo DiCaprio loves to chat and talks a lot on the film set.
Scorsese laughed that just as Leo “talked non-stop”, Bob “didn’t want to talk almost at all”. And this required a lot of flexibility and strong juggling from the director – he had to somehow tame them both and make them look good as a duet. Scorsese explained to journalists: “I discovered that I can work with Leo if I talk to him a lot. For me, his method is a method of constant conversation and constant exploration. With De Niro it is a bit different. Sure, we talk, but then there is silence,” he noted . However, in his opinion, these differences combined to create a great end result. Taciturn and spare, De Niro is perfectly evil. “Talkative and effusive DiCaprio is fulfilling as a not particularly wise husband. The scenes in which they appear together on the set are filled with unspeakable pressure, and the tension between them can be cut with a knife. Will they win an Oscar together with their roles in Scorsese’s films? We will find out in January next year ” – writes Magda Walma from Kultura.gazeta.pl.
Scorsese adds that De Niro and DiCaprio remind him a lot of himself: “When I started working with Leo, I noticed that he had a very similar sensitivity to mine and Bob’s. He was also brave enough to reach into different spheres like Bob. And these were difficult things. He is fearless when it comes to playing and exploring different possibilities,” he points out. Robert De Niro also said something about working with DiCaprio and Scorsese during the Tribeca Festival 2023. “I’m so proud of Leo, he’s doing great. We could finally make a film together and I hope we’ll be able to shoot something else with Marty. It was a great experience,” the reporters heard. The actor revealed that they are already talking about their next joint project. So there is a method to this madness.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
