PA ImagesMartin Scorsese heaped praise on Robert De Niro yesterday, calling him ‘the greatest actor of his generation’.
De Niro was receiving the Creative Impact in Acting Award at the Variety Creative Impact Awards yesterday, January 3, when the legendary filmmaker made the comments.
Scorsese’s words couldn’t have gotten any more complimentary, but really who can blame him? If you can’t big up one of your closest friends and professional collaborator for the world to see, what’s the point?
You can listen to the filmmaker’s kind words below:
Scorsese, who was at the Parker Palm Springs to introduce The Irishman star and longtime friend, called De Niro ‘the greatest actor of his generation’ whose ‘creative impact in acting will always be felt so long as there are actors to express their art’.
Basically, he wasn’t holding back. The renowned filmmaker also noted the multitude of movies (a total of nine, if you were wondering) he and De Niro have made together, adding, as per Variety: ‘God willing, we’re on the tenth, with Leo [DiCaprio].’
He continued:
We met when we were 16 years old. I think the first movie star I had worked with was Paul Newman in The Color of Money.
Before that… it was all just working with friends, almost like home movies… and that culminated in The Irishman. It took us many years to figure out that was the picture we wanted to make.
PA ImagesDe Niro also had his say, describing The Irishman as a ‘homecoming’, adding: ‘You don’t do it alone… And it wouldn’t be any fun if you did do it alone.’
The actor continued:
I was making a movie with my best friends. When I think about it I can’t believe how fucking old these guys are. You can’t de-age friendships. We spent 108 shooting days; I wish we could have shot for 108 more. Marty, can we do some reshoots?
It’s no wonder the two friends have such fond memories of the Netflix film, particularly because it’s been so well-received by viewers, so well-received that last month The National Board of Review named it the best film of the year.
NetflixThe film tells the story of Frank ‘The Irishman‘ Sheeran (De Niro), the body man and mob hitman to Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) during the tumultuous period pre- and post-Kennedy’s presidency.
Then again, you probably already know that seeing as though it’s been out for more than a month now and you’ll almost definitely have seen it… and if you haven’t, you need to give your head a wobble.
Alternatively, you can go and give it a watch, as it’s available to stream now. Happy watching!
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).