Again when Robert De Niro was only a child chasing goals in Lee Strasberg’s technique appearing lecture rooms, soaking within the brooding genius of Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift, the thought of sipping tea with the Taliban within the Afghan desert in all probability wasn’t on his radar.
The drama faculty fantasies lean extra towards Oscar speeches and curtain calls, not well mannered chats with folks from a war-torn nation. But, that’s exactly the place he discovered himself years later, in a kind of unusual twists solely a life in cinema can ship.
The Movie That Took Robert De Niro There
The trail to that surreal tea get together was paved by The Good Shepherd, a movie he directed in 2006. Certain, it isn’t his most celebrated work, however a decent, layered dive into the murky origins of the CIA, starring a sometimes subdued Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie.
This wasn’t De Niro’s first time calling the pictures both, as he’d taken a swing behind the digicam again in ’93 with A Bronx Story, however The Good Shepherd was completely different. It was a lot greater and extra complicated, demanding the sort of care and analysis solely somebody deeply invested would decide to.
The Most Surreal Second In Robert De Niro’s Profession
De Niro went all in as a result of to him, analysis wasn’t simply studying scripts and struggle histories, it meant boots on the bottom in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He wished to see it, really feel it, and perceive it. When requested concerning the tour in a 2007 interview with Uncut, De Niro mentioned, “That was an attention-grabbing journey! We met one of many commanders of the native Taliban. We had tea with them, and gave them $200 for a girls’s faculty, which I do know they went away and arrange.”
Nonetheless, the assembly itself was unusually civil, and for De Niro, it was a day that appeared extra like a diplomatic oddity than a brush with hazard. The Taliban even gave them a crash course in how they as soon as outmaneuvered the Russians. Regardless of the unusual detour into diplomacy, The Good Shepherd got here collectively. It grew to become a blockbuster, incomes a strong $100 million and nods from critics who appreciated its restraint and intelligence.
“I all the time wished to direct,” he mentioned. “Directing is much more of a dedication although, much more time. This has been a long-haul course of.” Robert De Niro clearly had the attention and persistence for guiding, however the sheer weight of the method would possibly clarify why he by no means returned to the director’s chair after that.
For extra such tales, take a look at Hollywood Information
Should Learn: Salma Hayek Was As soon as Pressured By A Filmmaker To Scent His Physique Half, Leaving Her Disgusted: “He Claims It Smelled Like A Particular Cheese”
Observe Us: Fb | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Google Information