Robert De Niro is one of the most celebrated screen actors of all time. He
continues to expand his boundless range with performances spanning from comic
to serious and everything in between. Robert De Niro is back to his gangster
ways starring in films like Goodfellas, Casino, The Untouchables, Once Upon
Time in America and The Godfather II, De Niro has proven time and time again
that he is at home in gangster genre. And while he’s starred in a few bad
titles over the last few years, it’s always good to see him come back home, and
that sentiment can now be extended to Luc
Besson’s new crime comedy-thriller‘The
Family’ (aka Malavita).
Based on the book “Badfellas”
by ToninoBenacquista, The Family
centers on the Manzino family, a mafia clan that has to go onto witness
protection when the patriarch , Giovanni (De Niro), testifies against his
associates. Hiding as Blakes, the family.
De Niro says he was attracted to the film’shumour and original point
of view. “It’s an unusualtake on the
mobster genre with a novel storyline,” he says. “My character was a crime boss in New York, but he turned in his whole
crew. When he entered the Witness Protection Program with his family, they were
sent to France, but every place they have been resettled, they end up in hot
water. Now they are in the middle of nowhere and it might as well be Mars. The
situation can seem a bit surreal, but the character is very real and
relatable.”
Always attuned to small points of authenticity, De Niro researched
life in the Federal Witness Security Program, or WITSEC, prior to the shoot to
see if an ex-crime boss from the East Coast might really end up in a small
French village. “I learned that this
situation could exist, especially if it were politically oriented in some way.”
He also asked an expert to weigh in on life in the mob. “When we started really dealing with
the story,
there were some little things that I felt weren’t entirely accurate about Fred’s
world,” says
A key turning point in the film comes when Fred shocks his FBI
handlers—and surprises even himself—with his plan to write a memoir that will
set the record straight about exactly how he lived his life—and which could
have disastrous results if it ever got out. “I
think when you get older, if you feel you’ve done something unusual, good or
bad, you want to tell your side of the story,” says De Niro. “That’s what
motivates Fred. He wants to express his own take on this world and why he did
what he did. He is in a sense trying to redeem himself. He wants to document
how things went down and justify his decisions so he will have some peace of
mind.”
Fred also begins telling locals that he is working on a book about
the Allied landing in Normandy during World War II. As an American writer, he
is asked to speak at the local film club, which is screening, of all things, Goodfellas, a sly nod on Besson’s part
to both De Niro and Scorsese‟s involvement in MALAVITA. The audience’s enthusiasm for the movie inspires the
ex-gangster to share a few stories of his own. “And he likes the attention,” says De Niro. “Finally, he’s getting
validation for all the things he’s done, not by people of his secret world, but
by the larger legitimate world.”
While on the set, De Niro had to adapt to Besson’s trademark
breakneck pace of shooting, a quality he found energizing. “Luc works very fast. He has it all in his head when he comes to the
set and he’s behind the camera, so he’s completely in control. He’s got the
whole canvas in his head. I like the way he works a lot—there’s no wasting of
time. It’s important for spontaneity.”
The director says he was a bit in awe of working with the Oscar®
winner. “I mean, I saw Mean Streets
and Taxi Driver when I was 15,” says Besson.
“But at the same time, I just had to roll up my sleeves and get to work. What’s
the point of having Robert De Niro if you do nothing special with him? We
worked hard. He’d be asking me questions all the time, calling me on the phone,
and that was fine by me. He can wake me up any time.”
No comments:
Post a Comment