OPINION:
DE NIRO: A LIFE
By Shawn Levy
Crown Archeype, $32.50, 608 pages
Recently, actors Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio appeared in a short film titled “The Audition,” both appearing as themselves auditioning for the same role in a movie to be directed by Martin Scorsese. “The Audition” is actually an advertisement for a luxury hotel and casino in Macau.
Fans of the two-time Academy Award-winning actor are immediately in on the joke, as both actors have made multiple films with Mr. Scorsese. Moreover, for the last decade-and-a half, Mr. De Niro has appeared in films lampooning the characters that have made him famous.
The fascinating rise of Robert De Niro and his enduring place in American cinema history is chronicled in film critic Shawn Levy’s new book “De Niro: A Life,” a well-researched examination of an actor whose portrayal of psychotic criminals became the vanguard of filmmaking in the 1970s.
Mr. De Niro was raised the only child of bohemian parents, both of whom were artists in New York City’s Greenwich Village. His father enjoyed moderate commercial success as a painter before and after his son’s rise to fame. When he was a child, Mr. De Niro’s parents divorced, though they lived a few blocks from each other. Growing up, he spent time shuttling between both parents’ homes. His early years were hardly the hardscrabble times depicted in his films.
In the early 1970s, Mr. De Niro auditioned for the roles of Michael and Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather.” While director Francis Ford Coppola liked what he saw in Mr. De Niro, he really wanted Al Pacino for the role of Michael, the reluctant heir to his father’s empire.
In order to secure Mr. Pacino for ’The Godfather,” Paramount had to assign another actor to appear in rival MGM’s “The Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight,” another gangster film. Mr. De Niro had the misfortune of co-starring in this bomb, while Mr. Pacino and “The Godfather” made Hollywood history.
The following year, Mr. De Niro’s luck changed in a big way. Two of his films, “Bang the Drum Slowly” and “Mean Streets” were released almost simultaneously. In “Bang the Drum Slowly,” he played Bruce Pearson, a slow-witted terminally ill baseball player, and in “Mean Streets,” he played the volatile hoodlum Johnny Boy Civello. “Mean Streets” also marked Mr. De Niro’s first of seven films he would make with director Martin Scorsese. New York theaters showed “Mean Streets” and “Bang the Drum Slowly” side by side and many moviegoers, according to Mr. Levy, could not believe it was Mr. De Niro in both films.
Mr. Coppola remembered De Niro and immediately cast him as the young Vito Corleone in “The Godfather, Part II.” Mr. Levy illustrates the daunting task Mr. De Niro faced. He had to create a younger version of an already indelible character, made famous by one of the greatest actors of all time, Marlon Brando.
Mr. De Niro then poured himself into the role by learning to speak Sicilian, as most of his lines were in that language. He studied intensely with tutors and traveled to Sicily. Mr. Levy explains how Mr. De Niro would mark scripts with notes about what his character was thinking, feeling, wearing — anything to become that character.
Mr. Levy’s analysis of Mr. De Niro’s preparation for roles, especially in films in which he radically altered his appearance, such as “Raging Bull,” “Cape Fear” and “The Untouchables” is impressive. As the book explores his less successful films, however, this approach becomes redundant.
The book also explores the complex relationships he has had with his wives, his role as a real estate entrepreneur, his founding of the Tribeca Film Festival and his efforts to revitalize lower Manhattan following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Mr. De Niro has a reputation for being press shy. He did not grant Mr. Levy any interviews for the book nor did a number of Mr. De Niro’s closest friends. Despite this, Mr. Levy’s description of Mr. De Niro’s work ethic is required reading for De Niro fans and aspiring actors.
However, after finishing this 600-plus page book, the reader will wonder if he knows Robert De Niro the person any more than when he started. Mr. Levy states that since the beginning of his career, Mr. De Niro eschewed fame and celebrity.
By maintaining his privacy and leaving his vast body of work to be examined, discussed and enjoyed, Mr. De Niro has established a cinematic legacy few can match. It seems unlikely we will ever be treated to Mr. De Niro’s memoirs. In the meantime, Shawn Levy’s “De Niro: A Life” is a good substitute.
• Kevin P. McVicker is account supervisor with Shirley & Banister Public Affairs in Alexandria, Va.
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