Top 55 De Niro Quotes

Like De Niro. He’s one of the best character actors we have ever had.

As a younger actor, I had delusions. I would dream of Scorsese and De Niro; I would meet people, and it would be like this, and it would change moviemaking in France, and Paris would become the center of the world.

Robert De Niro taught me how to listen, and how to be part of the conversation. It’s not just about reading your lines and saying what’s in the script; you have to understand your character, along with the other characters so that you can always respond.

I’m a De Niro fan. I went eleven years without seeing a movie; the last one before that, February 1980, was De Niro and Scorsese in ‘Raging Bull,’ and when I went back, it was ‘Cape Fear,’ with De Niro and Scorsese. I picked up right where I left off at.

When I was coming up, everybody wanted to be Tom Hanks. There was always Robert De Niro and Al Pacino – they were the heavily dramatic stuff. I always had a foot in both camps. The hardest thing was to resist the advice to be like someone else. It took me a while to figure that out.

I’ve heard of actors like De Niro and Streep who stay in character all day long. And Daniel Day-Lewis did it for ‘My Left Foot.’ I don’t do that myself.

I don’t think more concentration is required for Robert De Niro to do what he does as for Jim Carrey to do what he does.

Well I’d really love to work with Robert De Niro, because he’s still the most talented actor out there.

I grew up watching Marlon Brando, Christopher Walken, Robert de Niro, and Al Pacino and even Robert Duvall and was impressed by their caliber of work.

De Niro was a hero of mine. And Sean Penn. But I’ve realized I can’t operate at that level of intensity. That’s okay for movies. On TV, when you live with horror day in and day out, you have to protect yourself.

Of course, De Niro has had a long history of memorable performances. Everyone knows ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Raging Bull,’ but ‘Awakenings’ really did something for me.

If you love acting and you’ve ever experienced theater, then you know that in a movie it’s almost impossible to live out that experience, unless you’re a Pacino or a De Niro or somebody who gets to pick their parts.

Robert de Niro is my favourite actor.

I will never be a Robert De Niro or Meryl Streep, the kind of actor that disappears into a role.

I never wanted to be a brand director. I didn’t want that kind of stamp. I wanted to be more like Pacino or Dustin Hoffman or Meryl Streep or De Niro – you know, a chameleon as a storyteller – because I love all kinds of movies.

I see film roles as lovely presents that come along now and again. I feel really lucky and say thank you very much. And if they fly me to L.A., I think, ‘God, I must really be doing well.’ I’ve worked with De Niro and Brando and Pacino, and that’s made me feel very lucky. But the films have never meant a lot to me.

Nobody is more truthful when he’s acting than De Niro.

Robert De Niro, I have loved this man forever. I mean, I think I have seen the ‘Godfather’ 300 times, but he is so special.

I was thrilled to work opposite Carl Reiner and Robert De Niro. Mr. Reiner was very chatty and delightful, but I learned that if you want Robert De Niro to like you, don’t speak at all, and he’ll be friendly to you.

When I was working on ‘Men of Honor’ with Robert De Niro, there’s a pipe that he has in the movie, and it took us about six weeks to find the right pipe for him to use and feel comfortable with. It was a great choice, because it was really about what worked with the camera at that time.

I have a great relationship and the highest respect for Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio. But working with De Niro has been simply incredible. While I was editing ‘Raging Bull,’ I was literally unable to take my eyes off him.

‘Taxi Driver’ is a movie that changed my life and made me a serious actor. Scorsese and De Niro. I give credit for anything that I’ve ever done as an actor.

Imagine stepping into the shoes of Roberto Duran, one of the most legendary boxers in the history of the sport, and definitely the most legendary Latin American boxer, and then having ‘Raging Bull’ in my corner. I mean, imagine that? Just having Robert De Niro to play the trainer in the movie, that was fantastic.

I don’t watch anything of mine much. I haven’t gone to drama school, or college, either. I just like to watch other actors in action. I learned so much from working with De Niro. I’d be in a scene with him where I was supposed to be acting, and I was just watching.

Scorsese and De Niro taught me to bring out the natural side of myself. And they taught me to think of myself as the average guy. Sometimes the average guy belongs in a role more than your matinee idol-type of person. We have to have people we can relate to.

Robert De Niro… It seemed like a pretty cool thing to do to put his name on my resume next.

To me, there were comedies that should go up for Oscars. I think Eddie Murphy in ‘The Nutty Professor’ was one of the greatest acting performances of all time, but it’d never be recognized that way. They always go for De Niro and Pacino, but Eddie Murphy played seven different people!

When you’re a young boy, you’re looking at older men for role modelling. Before I loved De Niro, I loved Clint Eastwood; I loved John Wayne. And James Bond.

I wanted to be Dustin Hoffman or Robert De Niro or Al Pacino. I thought I was going to be a dramatic actor, but comedy sort of started out first, and I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll find some more drama later on in my career.’

I like ‘The Usual Suspects’. Great film. I also like ‘Scarface’, films like that. Lots of gangster films. I really like watching all kinds of films, dramas, romance. I’ll watch comedies. I like Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle. I’d like to meet them.

Mature roles full of substance the kind played by Robert De Niro and Al Pacino – my favourite actors – is what I want to do.

The life of an action star is very short. I want to be an actor like Robert De Niro, like Dustin Hoffman or Clint Eastwood who in their 70s or 80s can still act.

I think if I met Frank Auerbach or Jeff Koons, I’d be more wobbly than if I met Robert De Niro!

I like people like Robert De Niro and Anthony Hopkins. And Gianfranco Zola, who played for Chelsea and Italy. He’s an artist with his feet.

If you are handed something, it’s a blessing and a curse. Look at hip hop artists, they produced everything themselves. Even people like Robert De Niro are getting into production. Again, it’s art vs. marketing. Not everyone can take the risk. You have to break a few eggs to make a good omelet.

Sometimes a producer and an artist get together and they make magic like Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson. As far as my own music career – you could liken my chemistry with Timbaland to Marty Scorsese and Robert De Niro.

Growing up, I always looked up to males or comedians such as Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. I also love Lucille Ball, from the show ‘I Love Lucy.’

I remember the first time I saw Robert De Niro at a party. I didn’t want to run over and shake his hand. I wanted to admire him from a distance. Later, I ended up making a movie with him, and that was fantastic.

I loved ‘Life is Beautiful’ and action films are great, like ‘Die Hard.’ My favourite is the mob film – ‘Goodfellas,’ ‘The Godfather,’ ‘Once Upon a Time In America,’ anything with Robert De Niro in it.

I would like to work with Jean Reno, and I think it would be amazing to work with Jim Carrey. I would quite like to work with Robert De Niro and probably Christopher Walken.

It’s interesting to help someone find their vocabulary. There would not have been a De Niro without a Scorsese.

In my twenties, I thought I was Robert De Niro and I invested all of myself in my acting. But, as I’ve got older, I’ve calmed down a bit. I’ve thrown my game plan out of the window.

I’ve had a fantastic career playing great parts. In many ways, the colour of my skin has been an asset because I’ve been asked to play certain roles as a result. I don’t apologise for playing them anymore than Robert de Niro is sorry for playing American-Italians.

I would have to say honestly I was very pleased to be in a film whether it was good or bad with De Niro, Norton and Brando even if I don’t have any scenes with them, I thought it was pretty good company to keep.

I shoot a lot of film – that’s one of the things I try to do, and it’s one of the things I learned how to do with Robert De Niro on ‘Men of Honor.’

I saw ‘Taxi Driver,’ and ‘Taxi Driver’ kind of saved my life. The scene where Robert De Niro is looking at himself in the mirror saying, ‘You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Who the hell else are you talkin’ to?’ That’s the scene that changed my life by changing my attitude about acting.

It takes an entire book to tell you what it was like. To see Robert De Niro play your father – it’s not a simple answer. To see Julianne Moore play your mother. To see Paul Dano play you – that’s an even more inscrutable question… he’s amazing, he’s totally amazing, but I can’t really say if he’s a good me or not.

It’s something that people relate to – and I hope my kid doesn’t relate to – but there’s a level of believability in playing complex characters. You know, Christopher Walken has done some hilarious comedies, De Niro. There’s great room for complexity and darkness to do well in comedies.