Robert De Niro reveals technical challenge of filming scenes 'with himself' in new gangster thriller
De Niro is no stranger to a gangster role, but playing two notorious mob bosses in the same movie?
Robert De Niro has revealed an insight into filming his dual role in The Alto Knights, and some of the challenges he faced playing opposing New York mafia bosses.
De Niro is certainly no stranger to a gangster role - Heat, The Irishman, the list is pretty endless - but playing two mob bosses in the same movie?
Well, the 81-year-old actor, considered a master of his craft and praised by both Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese as one of the best actors of all time, admits to UNILAD there were certain challenges even he faced when donning the two gangster hats.
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In The Alto Knights, De Niro takes on the roles of two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses - Frank Costello and Vito Genovese.
The pair were childhood best friends, but ultimately ended up foes. Costello became a highly influential public figure alongside his mafia boss status, while Genovese ended up dethroned after getting stuck in Europe before coming back and creating 'chaos', as De Niro puts it.
De Niro tells UNILAD he spent some serious time with director Barry Levinson and really went over how Nicholas Pileggi 'wrote the script' in order to figure out how to make each character 'distinct enough'.
Noting what a 'big help' it was to find so many books on the pair, he continues: "Part of it is just following your instincts about what you do all the research on. Then just kind of jump in and do it and see where it goes, if it works. [...] So that's what I did."
However, De Niro didn't just have the characterizations of the pair to think about, but also the 'technical' challenge of when the duo were in the same scene together.
"When I had scenes with myself, you can't cross a line visually, because [...] it's like a split-screen type thing," De Niro explains. "We had to those technical things of where to stay and how close to [get] to this chair or something - so if you go past that, you're not in a shot anymore."
The actor also notes the overlaps in speech between Costello and Genovese - 'important' given it's the 'way people talk in life' - which meant they had to get another actor who was playing one of the other mafia characters to stand in and read back to De Niro.
"I was looking for one of them to play Costello when I was playing Genovese and visa versa," De Niro says. "I found this one guy, Joe Bacino - he's terrific [...] And he learned both parts, and it was a great, great help."
Even in the face of any challenges, De Niro reflects on acting as 'kind of a release in a certain way'.
He resolves: "Especially if you feel you've done a good job for that day, you got the scene right and you've got things that you never expected, that's even better."
The Alto Knights is in cinemas from 21 March
Topics: Robert De Niro, Film and TV, Entertainment
Poppy Bilderbeck