Robert De Niro is an actor who is cast in tough guy roles throughout his career. Be it Mean Streets or Goodfellas, the actor has mostly played tough personas in his 58-year career. But as he turns 82, we now explore some of his lesser-known ventures into other genres.
We can't talk about De Niro, without mentioning his collaboration with Scorsese. Their collaborations on the gangster flicks are the stuff of legend. But in between two towering projects, i.e., Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, is a lesser known musical that explores the relationship between two musicians in the immediate aftermath of World War II. While Travis Bickle and Jake LaMotta are manically obsessive, Jimmy Doyle's obsession towards his love forms the story.
Directed by Terry Gilliam, Brazil is a dark comedy that follows a man trying to find a woman, who appears in his dreams. De Niro as terrorist Archibald Tuttle gives a memorable performance in one of his rare science fiction credits.
The film not only has De Niro confined to a chair for a considerable period of its runtime, it also has him playing a supporting character. As Leonard Lowe, De Niro's performance, in the Penny Marshall directorial, inspires hope within one, in times of darkness.
For his directorial debut, De Niro might have gone back to the world of gangsters, but to tell a coming-of-age story of a little boy in the Bronx, New York, USA. The film which is largely based on actor Chazz Paliminteri's childhood, features De Niro as little Calogero's (which is also Paliminteri's first name) honest and upstanding father, who tries to prevent his son from going down a bad path.
What started out as a fake trailer for Robert De Niro's Planet Terror became Machete, with Danny Trejo as the titular character. Swapping the tough guy persona for the corrupt politician persona, De Niro goes against his Heat co-star Trejo as the manipulative Senator Mclaughlin in the action comedy.
In another one of his rare science fiction entries, Limitless features De Niro as the sublime but ruthless tycoon, Carl Van Loon. Van Loon does not want power alone, he craves for control. He goes to any length to secure power, ultimately trying to control Eddie Morra and force Morra into becoming his puppet. The Neil Burger directorial is a must watch for its ingenuity.
In a scene from Nancy Meyers' The Intern, Anne Hathway's Jules Ostin says to De Niro's Ben Whittaker, "Something about you makes me feel calm." That is exactly how De Niro's character makes the audience feel throughout the movie. In this drama, De Niro as the well meaning and saint-like Ben Whittaker gives you a great amount of life lessons and positivity that will leave you with a calmer demeanour.
Of all the things an eighty year old De Niro could involve himself, he involves himself with a prank war against his grandson in the film. While his Goodfellas compatriot Joe Pesci was involved in an outright fight of wits against Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone, De Niro goes the same route in this comedy that is fit for a comfort watch.