Rendez-vous with… Robert De Niro

There are faces that stand in for the 7th Art, and lines of dialogue that leave an indelible mark on cinephilia. The actor, director, producer and artist-activist has become a cinematic legend, with his emblematic, interiorized style, which surfaces in a gentle smile or a harsh gaze. This is why the Festival de Cannes has decided to present him with an honorary Palme d’or on opening night.

Throughout his filmography, Robert De Niro has expressed the violence of American society in all its subtleties and ambiguities: organized crime taking the place of the state, the trauma of the Vietnam War and the manipulation of a country by the culture of entertainment.

About the intimate project centered on his family heritage that he has been working on for several years with visual artist JR (his father’s studio preserved intact, letters, photos of his mother…):
We don’t worry about having a deadline. I did a lot of documentaries about my father but this time I thought it would be something more than that. Who knows, to me it’s more important to keep going. My father loved me genuinely just like I love my kids. I wish I had more time to be around him. I don’t necessarily need to see the results. I don’t know what will come out, but it’s there. It makes more sense to me to do it like that. You make the time.

About acting, the actor inspired by Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, and Laurence Olivier confided:
When in doubt, don’t doubt! You must be smart enough to follow your instinct. What the director says is not necessarily right. I would say: “Get the idea of the scene, of what you are supposed to play.”