All language subtitles for Inside.the.Actors.Studio.S05E08.Robert.De.Niro (1998.11.29)

Every generation of actors is defined by
one or two individuals.

Looking back, we know that in the 19th
century, Keane, Salvini, and Duse

the art of acting for their time and
forever.

We can identify the actors like Olivier
and Brando who have changed the rules

and raised the stakes for their
generation.

And now, as the 20th century draws to a
close, it's becoming apparent

that that pioneering list includes the
name of tonight's guest,

Robert De Niro.

Until tonight, the guest who grew up
closest to the new school, where we are

at this moment, was Whoopi Goldberg, who
started her life in Chelsea, about

eight blocks north of here. But I think
the record now belongs to you.

Where were you born, Bob?

I was born in a village, and I was
raised a few blocks from here, actually.

What was the address?

Well, you know the address. I asked for
a particular reason.

No, I don't know the address. You know
it.

I don't remember.

I know the building, but I didn't know
the address. It's not part of the Little

Red Schoolhouse. Yes, it is. The address
is 200 Bleecker Street.

Our graduating students are in repertory
at the Circle and Square downtown at

159 Bleecker Street.

Greenwich Village was then and is again
today a cultural hotbed.

And of all our guests, Bob comes from
one of the most

interesting intellectual backgrounds.

Both of your parents were working
painters, were they not? Right, yes.

Where did they meet? I think they met in
an art school, did they not?

I think they met at Hans Hoffman. And
your mother's name was, she had a great

name. Virginia.

Admiral.

Virginia Admiral.

She was a very, very good painter,
wasn't she? She had an opportunity to

in Paris.

One of her paintings was bought by the
Museum of Modern Art, was it not?

By Peggy Guggenheim. And the modern art,
I'm not sure, but that could be true.

And your father also was a very serious
painter.

Yes, my father was very serious. What
kind of career did he have? What kind of

paintings did he do, for example?

Abstract, expressionist.

figurative. And he was, I mean, I love
his stuff, and I put it in the

restaurants that I've been involved
with.

Do you have any recollections of life in
the village?

Well, it was a lot different, you know.

Soho was a lot different.

How so?

It was just a totally industrial area
that nobody thought of

as a place to live.

warehouses, I guess factories, stuff
like that, and he would live in these

that were really, they were real lofts.

What was your first experience with
acting? I think it was in a... Well, I

to the dramatic workshop when I was 10.

Were you in The Wizard of Oz?

That's the first thing I did there on
Saturday. Oh, was it there? Yeah, it was

there, yeah.

This university in the 1930s rescued 400
artists and scholars from Europe, among

them was Viscata.

And he started the dramatic workshop
here at the New School, and it was on

stage. Was it on this stage? On this
stage where you're sitting now.

But by the time you went, he had gone
back, had he not? He had gone back to

Germany after the war.

And I went to see him once.

I must have, you know, it was about
1918, 1919, I went to East Berlin and

saw him.

Just to say hello, because I knew his
wife.

How did you know his wife? My mother
worked for her, and that's how I got

the dramatic workshop.

And she would type for her and do
proofreading.

And so in payment for that, that's how I
got the lessons on Saturday.

And how old were you?

Ten.

Then I, for a few years, I wasn't
interested. Then when I was about 15,

got interested again and started again.

Where? At the dramatic workshop. I was
16.

And then I had stopped for about six
months, and then I started again when I

18.

And that was with Stella Adler.

When Harvey Keitel was here, we talked
about Stella big time.

Stella was my teacher.

Stella was, without question, for me,
the greatest influence on my life.

She could be inspirational as a teacher.

with me, and what she did very, very
well, that she was always sort of, not

attacking, but kind of like putting down
the actor's studio, was that this is,

you know, the method thing, as opposed
to the conservatory of acting,

Stanislavski, building a character, and
I think that that was

really, really important for, I thought
it was important for any actor, I

couldn't see how you wouldn't be made
aware of that.

there was a bit of pomp and splendor
with her, you know, and all that stuff,

she, at the end of the day... Plenty of
pomp and splendor.

She was very, you know, she really was
good, a good teacher, very good. I

give her credit for being, having a big
influence on me and making, it's not

about neuroses or playing on your
neuroses or whatever, it's about the

and about doing that first, the tasks of
the character, and then you get, you

know,

without going about it as if it's all
about you and how you would do it and

blah, blah, you know, instead of more
about the character and being faithful

the text, the script.

Breakdown, for example, was something
that I had not seen other than with her.

Script analysis, Breakdown, which is a
really good class in terms of just

something for what it is.

from photographs into a text, a play, or
whatever, and just breaking that down,

and not fictionalizing, but just taking
whatever you get from that and making

your choices based on what you pick up
from that.

She said something to us, I remember
when I was studying with her, that I've

never forgotten. I wonder if she said it
to you, and that was, the talent is

in... Right, in your choice.

In the choice.

That had a profound influence on me, I
must say.

That had a profound influence on me. No,
that was it.

What do you mean when you say that you
feel, maybe it's

related to what you just said, that you
feel that you have to earn the right to

play a character?

Well, in terms of...

Well, you can make it your own and feel
comfortable in doing it. So you either

by researching the character or that, of
course, the whole as much as you can,

learn as much as you can. When you feel
comfortable, it's an ideal situation. It

doesn't always work that way where you
try to be as

close to that character or to your own
interpretation of what

it is.

that will give you, even in moments of
uncertainty, like

if you're ad -libbing or improvising
something, you always kind of know how

character will react.

And that's the ideal, the best of all
possible worlds, if you could do that.

Do you think that formal training is
important for young people who want to

I think it's important, yeah.

I mean, let's put it this way. If you
don't have it, you're missing something.

I've always felt.

Unless you have great instincts and
you're very... You can have great

but the formal training just sort of
gives you an overview of things.

The kind of way you fit and what you
want.

It's important to have that.

When should it begin, do you think?

I think acting can start when you're a
little kid, if you wanted to, because

don't have the experience, but technique
is not really...

in a way, the way I see it, connected to
experience.

A question of great interest to the 206
actors and writers and directors out

here in the audience earning their
master's degree at the Actors Studio

What took you to the studio? They really
want to know the answer to that

question. Well, I wound up at the Actors
Studio because I had a friend, Alan

Garfield.

Alan Gurwitz, Alan Garfield, I changed
his name and went back to, we did a

from a movie that I did called either
Greetings or Hi Mom with

Brian De Palma.

Yeah.

And Alan was, we needed somebody as a
porno filmmaker.

Hi Mom.

Hi Mom, was it? Yeah.

So.

Count on it.

So Alan came up to the Whitney Museum
and we improvised a scene.

And, you know, there was, to me, a clear
example of somebody with an action.

Alan had an action like to sell me
something or whatever, and I was just

reacting to him, you know, to his whole
shtick.

And that was one of my favorite scenes
in that movie.

Anyway, he was involved in the actor's
studio and he got me involved.

there and coming in as an observer and
then I met Shelly Winters

and I did a they were casting at that
time or somewhere around that time they

were casting Bloody Mama and Shelly was
in it and she had me meet Roger Corman

so that was we did that and then Shelly
wrote a play She told us about it when

she sat in that chair. Did she? Yeah.

She's rather proud of you, and she feels
that she had some influence when you

were at the studio and she was at the
studio.

Yeah, she did. She was... Shelley cares
a lot about... and cared a lot about the

studio and still does.

Did you ever audition for the studio?
Did you ever actually audition for the

studio? I don't think I did, but they...
I think it was a time of Shelley's play

and so on, and I was... You're a maid.

As you say so often in your movies,
you're a maid studio. Right, right,

Same thing. And I think it's only fair
to tell you now that it's blood in,

out. Yeah.

What did you take from Strasberg?

Strasberg was,

to me, it was beneficial and helpful.

What I felt was better.

was when a director would come up and
have a session, because a director had a

mixture of experience and practical
doing.

A director would get up and say, well,
we'll do this and we'll go. At the end

the day, you've got to get up and do it.

And the sooner you get to knowing that
you've got to get up and do it, the

quicker you'll do it.

And you can...

Like Stella would say, pitsy caca around
and all of whatever, for an hour or

two. And there were a lot of things. I
mean, not to be critical. It's just that

I had this problem, too, where I was
afraid to make a move to, you know,

have to feel it and I have to do this.

And sometimes, you know, sometimes, and
there was a teacher that I had that

actually, it's Stella's, who was a sight
-reading teacher named Charles Karshan.

And he would just say, you know, You got
to sometimes jump in.

And that was true because if I just
jumped in and did it and took the leap,

that you would arrive at that place
where you thought you had to go through

kinds of like, you know, you just
arrived there and you'd be there,

or not.

I had learned something. So that it's
not to pamper yourself so much. You've

to get out at the end of the day and
you've got to do it.

And if you make a mistake, you do it
again. You try and do it again.

How did you prepare for the role of
Bruce Pearson in Bang the Drums Slowly?

That's a baseball player. I went to
Georgia. He was from Georgia and had

time with people and had taped their...

Going over the script take their reading
of the script and get a bunch of

different people to do it because then
they would it would be I'd get the

variations of the of the Georgian
accent.

So you weren't just hanging out with
them. They knew you were an actor,

Yeah, I would always say what I'm doing.
You showed them your cards. You said

I'm here for a reason, right? I always
say that to be straight with people

because otherwise they always

I want to be very helpful and sometimes
I'm more candid about things than if

you, you know, are not straight with
them.

You referred to yourself in the film as
doomeded.

Right.

He wasn't very smart, but I never got
the impression for one second that you

were playing him dumb, that you were
condescending to him at all.

No, no, no, I wouldn't have.

Well, that's the first lesson, you know,
in acting. You never comment and

make...

put the character down, unless it's a
character that likes to put himself

I understand.

But you have a reason for what you're
doing, and you rationalize and justify

and that's the way most people are.

So that's the first thing. Like I was
doing a thing with a wardrobe person

picking out clothes for this character.
He was kind of like a, you know,

maybe an unsavory type chap, blah, blah.
But I would say...

She was kind of making jokes about it. I
said, nicely,

please don't keep saying that. I'm
supposed to like this guy, and I don't

at it that way.

But I was getting a little slightly
annoyed with her sort of making fun of

guy because that's not the best way to
approach it.

I even think for the wardrobe costume
designer, it's equally as important.

To respect the character. To respect the
character, exactly.

In 1973, Bob began a collaboration with
a director

that has no equal in the history of
motion pictures.

Would you tell our students, how did you
meet Martin Scorsese?

We met through a mutual friend, I guess,
in the late...

I guess it was around 71 or 72.

1973. 73.

We met Jay Cox, who was a film critic at
the time for Time Magazine.

And Marty and I had known each other as
kids kind of in passing.

Both came from the same neighborhood,
right? Well, I hung out in that

neighborhood. He was from the
neighborhood. But I had seen Who's That

And I told him, I said, that's...

terrific movie, and it's right on,
totally accurate, and so on.

And we started talking, and then he was,
I guess a few months later, he was

going to do this movie, Mean Streets,
and so we had, he said, would you want

play one of the parts? I said, of
course.

So there were four parts, not Harvey
Keitel, that was set.

I said to Harvey, you know, I really
thought maybe I should have your part,

know, and I was honest with him, I was
going, and he said, you know, the Johnny

Boy character you should do, and I said,
yeah.

Did you rehearse the film?

We rehearsed, yes, we did rehearse, and
we did improvise certain parts of it.

When you say you improvised certain
parts of it, how would you improvise?

just take the script and then... Well,
you improvise, I mean, you can improvise

in a lot of ways, but...

The way we did that is we would
improvise a piece of it, and then you'd

set it.

You couldn't just improvise it each
time, which you can do, but you have to

of set it and know the moments that
you're going to hit.

Right. So you want some structure when
you're improvising. You need structure.

Did Gorshazy encourage this
improvisation? Yeah. He believes in it

doesn't he? He believes in it, and we've
done, in the movies that we've worked

on, they've been different in every
case.

I see.

I remember I was very startled when I
first saw this film because the guy who

shot you at the end was Scorsese.

Marty, yeah. Yeah.

He decided he would wield the gun.

Yeah.

I forgot about that. Huh? I forgot.
Yeah, you're right. He did.

In 1974, one year after Mean Streets.

Bob won the Academy Award as Best
Supporting Actor for his portrayal of

young Vito Corleone.

What you did in that film was remarkable
for so many reasons.

First, you were completing a portrait.

That had been indelibly drawn by Brando
in the first Godfather picture only two

years earlier I wasn't intimidated by it
I just said it's a problem that I'm

gonna I kind of liked the fact that I
had boundaries and I had to Connect it

something. It wasn't like I had to look
for something. It was there. I just had

to continue it and So what I did was I
got the Godfather one and in those days

You had these reel -to -reel kind of
video cameras.

And we went into the theater, me and the
producers, and held the camera toward

the screen. And I had this copy of the
movie.

And then I would play it over and over,
all the Brando stuff.

And that's what I did.

Studied it and studied it and connected
it.

Another remarkable thing about your
performance is, okay, you won the Oscar.

All but three lines in that part.

are in Italian.

Well, I went to Sicily for a few weeks,
at least three, three and a half weeks,

and I just hung around with people, and
I had a little bit of an advantage

because I told them that I was working
on The Godfather 2, and they all knew

you know.

Another Godfather anomaly is the fact
that three of its actors competed the

way it is in Hollywood for the Best
Supporting Actor Oscar. Your competition

that. Included two people in the movie,
including Lee Strasberg.

Right. That's right. I forgot about
that.

When Bob won, Strasberg is quoted as
saying, Bobby deserves it. You sure

as hell did.

It just keeps getting better, folks.

In 1976, Travis Bickle came into our
lives like a grenade.

You're a talking taxi driver.

I know that you did some very
interesting preparation for that role.

I drove a cab for a couple of weeks,
yeah.

How much money did you make?

I don't remember.

I'm trying to find my hack license.

Did you get a hack license?

You had to have got a hack license.

I did. I can't find it. Is it true that
once an actor got in and said, oh my

God, you won the Oscar and you're back
to this?

Well, no, there were some people who
recognized me.

From time to time, very little.

When I was with Stella, we did a lot of
work with animals.

We used to do a lot of animals.

I've read that you talked in terms of an
animal character.

I'm not sure if we talked about it, but
I know that I thought of him as like a

crab in the sense he kind of worked
sideways and kind of gawky.

What do you mean by sideways? You mean
he wouldn't face you? Well, a crab kind

of, you know...

It seems that they kind of go at a
certain, that image of going at an

like directly, but like this way.

Especially the scene with Harvey Keitel
when he was in the doorway sport, you

know, and I say, which I always love
this, because

they almost cut it out. I said, no, it's
a great line.

He says, I say, I'm hip.

He said, funny you don't look hip.

Right, right.

So I said that you spent an unusual
amount of time on that picture alone in

trailer.

True?

Well, I usually spend time in my trailer
because I don't like to spend a lot of

energy out on the set. Just me. I mean,
other people have other ways of doing

whatever they... I just like to stay,
come back, go out, work, come back.

What do you do when you're in the
trailer? Just absent yourself from the

are you still working?

Well, it depends. Every movie is
different.

Sometimes if it's a certain type of part

and a situation that the character's in,
I might want to just be by myself and

not have any distractions.

Otherwise it would be where I have my
kids in the...

trailer with me. I sometimes don't mind
just taking my mind off it and just

going in and doing it. I mean, whatever
work I do, I do before and I'm not, you

know, if I can't get it then, I'm not
going to get it. And the last thing I

to do is worry about it.

Because that creates, then your action
is to be anxious and worrying about

something. How much of Travis's behavior
was in the script? How much do you

think? you invented?

We did improvise. We did videotape
scenes and rehearsals. I remember we

doing that.

And then setting certain scenes and
rewriting them, improvising, and then

setting them.

I see.

Certain scenes.

To flush them out, fill them out. I
understand.

Even though we liked the writing, there
was a certain rhythm and style.

the terseness that Schrader had, still
we were doing that. You know, we felt

it still needed something.

Was it always intended that Scorsese
would be the passenger in the cab who

you look at his wife? No, no. Well,
George Memoli was supposed to do it, and

had an accident.

He was shooting another movie, and so
Marty did it.

He said, you know, that you gave him a
great acting lesson that day. Would you

know what he was talking about? I
forgot, but...

You know.

When he told you to put down the flag.

And?

You wouldn't do it. You told him, right?

I'll do it when you make me do it.

Marty has great respect for actors,
which is very important to

get the best out of them, of course.

Is it true?

that one of the most memorable scenes in
the last quarter of a century consists

in the script of nothing more than five
words in a parenthesis, Travis looks

in the mirror.

There was no dialogue, right?

There might not have been. We improvised
that, too. What did you add?

You know, that's the usual.

Are you going to say it?

No, I have like a thing where I'll never
say it. I don't want to say anything.

Why? No, I just don't know.

You talking to me?

You talking to me?

You talking to me?

Who the hell else are you talking to?
You talking to me?

Well, I'm the only one here.

Who the f*** do you think you're talking
to?

Oh, yeah?

Huh?

Okay.

Listen, you f***ers, you screwheads.

Here is a man who would not take it
anymore. Who would not let... Listen,

f***ers. You screwheads.

Here is a man who would not take it
anymore. A man who stood up against the

scum, the dogs,

the filth, the shit. Here is someone who
stood up.

Here he is.

In retrospect, how do you see Travis
Tickle? Is he a demented villain? Is he

deluded hero?

Well, I just felt that it was something
that people who are...

I mean, Paul Trader, Marty, myself, we
all felt that we could relate to the

character, the loneliness, and so on. I
mean, I was raised in New York City. I'm

in the middle of New York City, but I'm
still alone in it, you know. And there

have been times in my life I've been
very alone and felt isolated.

And we could identify with that.

They did.

You know, the talking in the mirror
scene is something that a lot of people,

sure, do in one form or another, and
they can relate to that.

The last scene is very ambiguous when he
picks Sybil Shepherd up in the car, in

the cab.

He's very polite to her, won't take her
money, and drives away with this faint

smile on his face.

Do you think he's at peace at the end of
the movie? I could never figure it out.

Well, I don't know. That's an
interesting thing. I wonder, you know, I

know if I ever thought of this, of doing
a movie of him 20, 30 years later.

Oh, boy. I'd like to see that. It'd be
kind of interesting.

I don't know if we ever talked about
that.

But it would be, it's an interesting
idea.

Travis, 30 years later.

Wouldn't that be interesting?

That picture won the Golden Palm at the
Cannes Film Festival.

De Niro was honored as the best actor by
the New York film critics, also by the

Los Angeles critics and the National
Society of Film Critics.

And you were off and running.

When America's film critics polled
themselves,

to select the best motion picture of the
1980s, they chose Raging Bull,

which reunited you

and Marty Scorsese.

Was Raging Bull your idea or his?

I had read a book while I was doing
1900, and I said, I was reading this

and I said, you know, this is
interesting, and I told Marty, I said,

it's not well written, but it's got a
lot of heart.

And I said, I've always...

I've been interested in playing a
fighter.

And I said, this is, you know, and this
guy, like, goes to pieces and gains all

this weight and his obsession with
weight. You know, which actually with

fighters happens.

Sure. He's breaking the weight down.

And, you know, in his whole life he
lost, he had to gain and lose 2 ,000

or whatever.

I thought it would be interesting to see
how somebody could fall apart

graphically just by gaining this weight,
you know, and just like.

Just getting totally out of shape.

Did you work with LaMotta?

I worked a lot with him, yeah.

How?

We would always be trying to get more to
what he was about, what he was about.

Because, you know, it's very hard to ask
people about themselves

and let them be honest about it and
candid. So finally at one point I

that Jake was trying to be as honest as
he could be.

And I thought he did a pretty good job.

And then at the end of the day, we had
to make it our own.

This is what LaMotta said about Bob
after he trained him as a fighter.

Anytime he wants to quit acting, I could
easily make him into a champion.

He's just saying it was just going to be
nice.

But he also charged a lot of money for
some dental work and a busted rib.

Jake? Yeah, that's what he said.

I don't remember.

really tough, and he said, go ahead, hit
me, hit me, you know, and I didn't want

to hit him. He had no guard on or
nothing, no, you know, head guard.

So maybe you did break a rib.

No, no, I didn't. I didn't.

Well, I don't know.

Joe Pesci, I, but it's very easy. Has he
got a broken rib? Yes, because, but

that, we were so concerned about
somebody getting hurt.

Was it?

Pesci, who recommended the 16 -year -old
Cathy Moriarty to play... Joe, yeah,

recommended Cathy.

He knew her from someplace in the Bronx.

She said she learned... It was Bobby who
taught me to always listen.

How important is listening?

It's essential, you know, in acting.

It's a very simple thing, because actors
feel... I know I had this...

problems sometimes. Well, you know, I'm
not doing enough.

Some people just can't ever trust
themselves that they don't have to do

more than that.

If there's nothing to do, then don't do
anything the way you do in life. Right.

Just sit there and listen or answer or
nod or whatever.

Of the many astonishing scenes in the
book and the film, none is more gripping

than the scene in which you finally
focus.

You, Jake, finally focus your jealous
rage on your brother.

In that scene, I know that it was shot
in a very small room because he wanted

everything to be real.

That means you couldn't use two cameras.

That means that if the two of you were
improvising with each other, things

happen that wouldn't be recorded because
the camera would be on you and not on

Pesci. When you were accusing him of
sleeping with your wife.

he'd give you a tremendous response the
first time, and when it came his turn,

the response was gone. Didn't you change
it?

Yeah, I would do that, sure.

I don't remember what I said, but I
would do that.

He was sleeping with his mother.

I might have said something that would
really upset him. That did.

We see it forever. It's there on the
screen.

Yeah.

Well, that was a very emotionally
important scene, obviously.

You could have said anybody, but you
said you and them.

You're going to let this girl ruin your
life. Look at you. She really did some

job on you. How fucking nuts you are.
Look what she did to you.

You fucked my wife.

What? You fucked my wife.

How could you ask me a question like
that? How could you ask me? I'm your

brother.

You asked me that.

Where do you get your balls big enough
to ask me that?

Just tell me.

I'm not answering you.

I'm not gonna answer that. Stupid.

You're very smart, Joey.

You give me all these answers, but you
ain't give me the right answer.

I'll make sure you get it.

Did you or did you not?

Have you ever asked a partner to
surprise you?

Yeah. You'll actually ask them to do it,
huh? Well, I'll ask them, yeah, to

paraphrase, change it, do whatever you
want, because I've heard the line so

often that I don't think they're really
going to do much. And in order just to

get something for the director to have
that's different, a choice,

I would ask whoever my partner is to do
that.

I know you've told this story many, many
times, but it is, as you said,

fundamental. You actually broke off in
the middle of the film so that you could

gain the weight.

How did you gain it? I just ate big
breakfast, big lunch, big dinner.

It was, you know, the first 15 pounds
are okay, and it's fun, but after that

it's... How much did you gain? Because
at the end you were immense.

I gained 60 pounds.

Remember what he looked like in the
beginning of the film? You could see

muscle in his body.

And for the contrast, I kept myself in
as good a shape as I could keep myself

that once I started the weight gain,
that there would be a real contrast.

There is a contrast.

That contrast brought Bob the Academy
Award as Best Actor that year and

also the Golden Globe Award.

You were there to accept that award,
were you not? Yes. Whom did you thank?

was very interesting.

Oh, I think my mother and my father. I
think you also thanked Amada and all his

wives. Oh, of course, yeah.

I thanked his brother even though he was
suing us.

During a shoot, Bob, do you look at
dailies?

I do a lot. Sometimes I don't because I
just like to see how it's going to...

turn out and be more surprised.

There's some myth about it hurting
actors and directors.

I don't know. I've never subscribed to
that. Do you vary a performance from

to take?

That's the whole great thing about
movies. You can change or make choices.

Especially with Marty Scorsese, I would
have a lot of fun because he was very

daring as far as that would just try
anything, you know. You and Scorsese

the 80s with one masterwork, Raging
Bull.

And you ended it with another called
Goodfellas.

Why are we as an audience so fascinated
by bad guys like Jimmy Conway?

Well, I guess because they're outside
the law, beyond the law, and they defy

law. I think that's what...

To use another movie like The Godfather,
I think at the time especially, it was

an organization that was in defiance of
authority but also had more principles.

You know, it was a romanticized version
of it, yes, but still there was

something about it with family and all
that.

That to me seemed one of the appeals of
the movie.

Here's a film that I am very, very fond
of.

Cape Fear.

It marked your seventh collaboration
with Scorsese, and it's time to ask.

Now, you two talk a lot on the set. I'm
not going to ask you what you say to

each other, but I am asking you, what is
it that you give each other that is

clearly unique?

I think I'm very fortunate to have found
a person that I could work with so many

times and have a good time. And when you
have that, it's a great thing, because

we just had a...

and have a great sort of we just
understand each other and speak in

What shorthand do you speak in?

Well, the same sensibility about
something. I don't know, you look at

and say, look, well, this is what I
think about this. I mean, you know, it's

like that situation we had the other day
or two years ago. Remember, I was

telling you about this thing that
happened and so on. You have to be very

with each other, first of all, about how
you feel about things. That's the first

thing. And you don't talk with other
people. You say, well, this is how that

was. Well, that's how I was feeling. So
let's try and maybe get... That's what

that's really about.

And that's what this scene, to me, is
about. So how can we transfer that? And

did this or that, or I felt this or
that. So how do we put that here in this

scene? Because that's what it's about.

And that's where you make it specific
and make it your own and more personal

give it that personal thing.

And he's very...

He goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's
great, that's great, let's do it.

He has said the most important words
that he ever exchanges with you are,

does it feel right?

And if it doesn't, two of you go
digging.

Exactly, what's the scene about?

What is it, what's the purpose? How does
it further the story?

What's the purpose of the scene?

There's a scene in Cape Fear.

in which Max Cady poses as an acting
coach to lure his enemy's 15 -year -old

daughter into an empty theater. I shiver
when I think about it. Then she

realizes who he is, that she says,
you're Max Cady, and he still

seduces her.

I told Martin, let me try something, or
because we wanted to

surprise her.

Surprises again, eh?

Do you mind if I put my arm around you?

It's okay.

No, I don't mind.

In nearly every one of these evenings,
there is a surprise.

This time, the surprise was very, very
big.

It's a beautifully written, acted, and
directed motion picture called A Bronx

Tale.

With this film, you took what seemed to
be an inevitable step. You directed a

movie.

What made you decide that the time had
come to direct?

Well, I've always wanted to direct, and
I finally figured if I'm not going to do

it, and I'll never do it, so I saw Chaz
Palminteri do his one -man show, and he

was terrific in it. You gave him a role
no one could have played better.

Well, I felt he was good, and I would be
great in it, but I also felt that I

didn't want to... Even if I played that
part, it would be more demanding on me

as a first -time...

having to have that double thing going.

At least the father was a smaller part.
I would keep it, be there,

do it. It would help get the money for
the film, but I wouldn't have to carry

the thing.

At the end of the film, the father and
son finally understand each other

in the most interesting, delicate,
sensitive way.

As they walk away, the film ends, and
then I was really caught by it. What

it say on the screen?

Yeah, well, it's a dedication to my
father.

I don't know if that's what you're
referring to.

Yeah, you bet. You bet.

Suddenly, there it is, a dedication to
your father, to the artist.

Was he still alive?

He had passed away.

When? Oh, a few months earlier, so he
hadn't had another chance to see the...

Even a rough cut.

So you were sending a message, eh?

We end each evening with the Bernard
Pivot questionnaire

from Apostrophe and Bouillon de Couture.

And it gives me great pleasure to ask
you, Bob, what's your

favorite word?

Refinement.

You heard that interesting response.

Your least favorite word?

Boorish.

What's your favorite curse word?

That's a hard one to answer.

I mean, I know what I use a lot. That's
what I want to know.

Well, you use a motherfucker or
whatever.

Are those your favorites? A tole or
whatever.

We seem to be getting something.

Pretty standard.

What profession other than yours would
you like to try someday?

Oh, maybe singing or something, or
music, or... I thought of that.

What profession would you definitely not
like to participate in?

Well, something that's more mundane.

Anything nine to five?

Probably something like that, yeah.

If heaven exists, what would you like to
hear God say?

when you arise.

Well, if heaven exists, he's got a lot
of explaining to do.

Look,

Foucault defined film as truth 24 times
a second.

Multiply that 24 by the number of
frames.

that contain the work of Robert De Niro.

And perhaps you'll begin to get some
idea of his value to the art of film and

his value to us tonight. Thank you very
much.

Hi, my name is Carrie Lovelace. I'm on
the playwriting track, and I was

wondering if, you know, looking at us,
if you were to advise us, you know, what

to do, how to develop our craft.

The only thing I would say is to try and
make whatever you're doing, especially

at this stage of the game because you
have nothing to lose, is to make it as

personal as you can in terms of what you
feel about something.

That'll make it more interesting.

Just not to be afraid to take the
chance.

Not to do it because of what people... I
mean, some people are very good at

doing things that people want to see.

And they know how to work that.

And that's okay.

And then other people don't even know
how to do that. They don't even know

to begin.

And I think to...

It's always more interesting to do
something that's genuinely, no matter

you might think, the reaction is going
to be as long as you feel that you've

done the best you can with that, no
matter how crazy it might seem or

or off the wall, just follow it anyway.

Follow that instinct.

Because that will distinguish you from
other people.

Hello, Mr.

De Niro. My name is Yvette Brooks. I'm
on the acting track.

How do you start a project? Do you start
them all sort of differently? Do you

start them the same?

They're all different. Every one will be
different.

I mean, I've rehearsed differently. Some
directors don't rehearse very much.

They don't really know what it is. I
mean, I sort of came out of a period

the directors were from the theater, and
in the theater you have to rehearse.

You work with a director like Kazan, you
know, he does it all the traditional

way, which is a great way.

Some other directors haven't had that
kind of training, don't come out of that

tradition, but they're very sensitive to
actors and trying to get wonderful or

great performances out of them so
they'll really give you a lot of support

they'll go the distance with you.

It's all different. I mean, every
situation is different. Some I might

from a physical standpoint or another I
might...

say well, I mean usually my things are
physical and then they work backwards.

The whole thing about rehearsal is
discovery.

You're discovering things and that's
what's important about rehearsal, you

discover literally, you know, and if you
don't have that time you don't ever get

to that point.

My name is Coy Middlebrook. I'm a
directing student here at the school

I'm very interested in knowing in those
days where you have to film the scene

and as an artist you stumble across a
creative block.

What is it in that craft grab bag that
you find you always grab hold of? When

you're in the situation, you will find
the answers moment to moment, second by

second, day by day. You'll find the
answers and you'll deal with it. It's

dealing with any big situation in your
life. You're into a situation, personal

situation.

Day by day, you deal with those
problems, and you work your way through

better or for worse, but you work your
way to the end.

There's always a solution and a way of
dealing with a problem.

Especially with Scorsese, I would say,
well, to myself, well, you know, I have

this idea that I have to do it this way,
but you know what?

Let's do it the opposite, just for the
sake of doing it the opposite.

Conversely, you'd say, well, that's the
only choice, and you've got to go for it

and do it, and that's it, and there's no
way around it.

So make the leap and just do it.