Ya\u2019ll ready for some Robert De Niro true stories? Because it\u2019s 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\u2019t know what everyone was having for lunch. But just because De Niro is enigmatic doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t 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\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t juicy, more recent, equally as true Robert De Niro stories. After all, when President Obama gives you an award for being you, you\u2019re on to something.
\nBecause 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\u2019s way funnier than any of his characters. If you can\u2019t believe the guy who played Travis Bickle can ham it up, you\u2019ll be pleasantly surprised when you read through these real Robert De Niro stories. And when you\u2019re done, check out our list of Robert De Niro\u2019s best movies.<\/p>\n
Photo: Universal Pictures<\/p>\n
He Requested A Real Bullet Be Placed In The Russian Roulette Gun In \u2018The Deer Hunter\u2019
\nHe Requested A Real Bullet Be Placed In The Russian Roulette Gun In \u2018The Deer Hunter\u2019
\nPhoto: Universal Pictures
\nWhile 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.<\/p>\n
He Financed A Super Weird Video Game Designed To Compete With Myst
\nHe Financed A Super Weird Video Game Designed To Compete With Myst
\nPhoto: Warner Bros.
\nBy the time the \u201990s rolled around, De Niro could do whatever he wanted. He\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n
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, \u201cMyst had already had its day in the sun. It was still, in many peoples\u2019 eyes, the finest video game ever to be created. So we decided to try and do a more irreverent version of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the game was dead in the water before it was released, but no one seems too broken up about the truly weird experience. \u201cFor us it was just this funny nostalgic time when we got to do this crazy thing in this tiny warehouse in San Francisco,\u201d said Hays.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had such a good time making this thing that at the end of the day, it kind of didn\u2019t matter whether people loved it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bobby Loves Disguises
\nBobby Loves Disguises
\nPhoto: Warner Bros.
\nMove over Austin Powers, Robert De Niro is the real international man of mystery. According to Sally Kirkland, who you\u2019ve seen in everything from Bruce Almighty to JFK and hundreds of TV shows, when De Niro was first auditioning in New York City he, \u201chad this composite he\u2019d carry around with him to auditions\u201425 pictures of himself in various disguises. In one he was like an IBM executive, in another a professor with glasses and a goatee\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
But his disguises didn\u2019t end there. In Illeana Douglas\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
\u201c[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\u2019s why he was leaving Marty\u2019s.<\/p>\n
I smiled politely at him as I passed by and respectfully and quietly said, \u2018Hello.\u2019 He politely nodded back, said, \u2018Hello,\u2019 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, \u2018I just said hello to Robert De Niro. Does that mean he\u2019s going to be in the movie?\u2019And Marty looked a little concerned and said, \u2018You recognized him?\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I laughed, and said, \u2018Of course. He\u2019s Robert De Niro!\u2019 And he said, \u2018But he was wearing a disguise.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Marty, he was wearing glasses.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He Doesn\u2019t Want To Talk To You
\nHe Doesn\u2019t Want To Talk To You
\nPhoto: Warner Bros<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. De Niro is traveling\u201d was Bourne\u2019s default response, though she would also use \u201cMr. De Niro is out of the country,\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll have to get back to you,\u201d or \u201cWe\u2019ll see about that.\u201d Apparently, De Niro once accidentally answered his own phone, and mumbled \u201cYeah, hello . . . this is Bob. I\u2019ll put Trixie on.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to a friend of De Niro\u2019s, \u201cBobby never answers his own phone. And he calls you\u2014you never call him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, Trixie had to keep it real with Patricia Bosworth, who wrote the Vanity Fair piece: \u201cMr. De Niro will probably never talk to you, but he is giving you permission to talk to his friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
He Wants To Punch Trump In The Face And Thinks Obama Gets A Bad Rap
\nHe Wants To Punch Trump In The Face And Thinks Obama Gets A Bad Rap
\nPhoto: New Line Cinema
\nDe Niro may be reticent to discuss his personal life in interviews, he doesn\u2019t 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\u2019d like to punch the orange one in the face.<\/p>\n
But De Niro isn\u2019t all piss and vinegar; he\u2019s soft-spoken when it comes to personal political causes. While speaking at India\u2019s Think Summit, he discussed how hard it is for someone like President Obama to make level-headed, sincere decisions: \u201cObama\u2019s heart is in the right place and he has to pick his battles. It\u2019s easy to criticize someone like him\u2026. but he is a decent person. Some of the Republicans are just trying to win at all costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harvey Keitel Explains How De Niro Reads Scripts
\nAt 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.<\/p>\n
The greatest story told De Niro that evening came from frequent co-star Harvey Keitel: \u201cOne day, Robby comes to me and he says, \u2018Harvey, you know how an actor reads a script don\u2019t you?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yeah.\u2019 He says, \u2018Let me show you.\u2019\u201d Keitel then mimed flipping through a script while saying, \u201cBullsh*t, bullsh*t, bullsh*t, my part. Bullsh*t\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
De Niro Goes So Method He Learned Sax And Gained 50 Pounds<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n De Niro Goes So Method He Learned Sax And Gained 50 Pounds If you\u2019re wondering why all of De Niro\u2019s most famous characters are so brutally intense, it\u2019s because he applies Stella Adler\u2019s acting method to everything he does, whether it\u2019s gaining weight for a role, learning how to shoot, or playing the saxophone.<\/p>\n 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, \u201cI feel I have to earn the right to play a part.\u201d<\/p>\n Liza Minnelli remembers De Niro\u2019s work ethic while filming New York, New York. \u201cI\u2019d leave the studio around twelve midnight, and I could hear the wail of a saxophone. As a musician he was fabulous. That\u2019s the way he found the character\u2014through the music. That\u2019s the way he put it together.\u201d<\/p>\n He Doesn\u2019t Know How to Drive (At Least He Didn\u2019t In 1970, At 27) <\/p>\n <\/ins><\/p>\n <\/ins><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Ya\u2019ll ready for some Robert De Niro true stories? Because it\u2019s about to get real up in here. See, Robert…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16177,"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16175\/revisions\/16177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/all-recipes.milaf.ma\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPhoto: United Artists<\/p>\n
\nHe Doesn\u2019t Know How to Drive (At Least He Didn\u2019t In 1970, At 27)
\nPhoto: Columbia Pictures
\nWhile 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: \u201cIn one scene he had to drive us in this car. The cameras roll. Suddenly we\u2019re careening around this field, and it\u2019s like he\u2019s out of control at the wheel. I whispered, \u2018Bobby, do you know how to drive?\u2019 and he grinned. \u2018Are you kidding? I\u2019m from New York. Why would I know how to drive?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n