'He is the only one alive..' : Martin Scorsese on his collaboration with Robert De Niro for the past 50 years

The real-life crime flick Killers Of The Flower Moon will mark the 10th collaboration between veteran director Martin Scorsese and legendary actor Robert De Niro. In a recent interaction with Hindustan Times, Martin spoke briefly about his long association with De Niro, which lasted for 50 years. Killers Of The Flower Moon also stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role.

Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro are drawn to the same subject matter

Talking about the same, Martin recalled that his relationship with De Niro goes back to when they were 16 years old. The Wolf Of Wall Street director said, “Well, with Bob De Niro, it's a formative relationship. It goes back to when we were 16 years old. But we'd lost track of each other. I didn't know he wanted to act and he didn't know I started directing. When we did Mean Streets (1973), we were reintroduced to each other by Brian De Palma. By doing Mean Streets and Taxi Driver (1976) together, we found that we were drawn to the same subject matter, the same psychological and emotion conflicts in people, in characters, and in ourselves. A certain trust was developed. I resisted Raging Bull for several years for certain reasons, but he really insisted that it'd be good for me.”

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Robert De Niro does not fuss about his looks on camera

Scorsese added how the Heat actor is not concerned about how he looks in front of the camera. He went on to add, “He's the only one alive now who knows where I come from, as kids, as young people. So the keyword is trust, fearless, and less vanity. He's concerned about the make-up and how the character looks, but not about beauty and trying to make him look better with special lighting. He says if the camera is on my back and someone else's face makes it look better, do that.”

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Lastly, Martin said how Robert has always been protective of him. He said, “He was very powerful at that time, after he won the Academy Award for The Godfather II (1974). But even then, we always had the danger of the studio taking away the film from you. No such thing as the final cut for me at that point of time. Inevitably, the actor would comply with the studio. This guy wouldn't do that, he's stay with you. And so I had that as a power. He was protective of me and the film.” Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro had earlier worked in acclaimed movies like Raging Bull, The Irishman, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, etc.