De Niro: A Life
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14 “After rehearsals”: “The Shadow King.”
15 “Because I was an understudy”: Author interview.
16 “All these big celebrities”: Author interview.
17 “There was this one scene”: Author interview.
18 “I don’t know that my way”: “De Niro,” Schruers.
Chapter 15
1 “He was lovely”: “Untouchable De Niro,” Joan Goodman, Observer (London), September 30, 1987.
2 “You know, one morning”: Chicago Sun-Times, March 12, 1989.
3 “Brian and I both worried”: “Untouchable De Niro.”
4 “We have the opportunity”: Linson, A Pound of Flesh, 137.
5 “Are you kidding”: “Untouchable De Niro.”
6 “He was thin”: Ibid.
7 “great … good … nice”: Linson, A Pound of Flesh, 154.
8 “It was like witnessing”: Ibid., 158.
9 “It took a week”: “The Mob at the Movies,” Tom Mathews, Newsweek, June 22, 1987.
10 “The Sicilian is a darker”: Ibid.
11 “It’s also personal”: HRC.
Chapter 16
1 “If we were going”: “Robert De Niro,” Peter Williams, Time Out, September 7, 1988.
2 “It’s not a yuk-yuk”: Ibid.
3 “Sometimes, when I do something”: “Playboy Interview: Robert De Niro.”
4 “When I was doing”: “Reluctant Robert,” Diana Maychick, New York Post, March 8, 1989.
5 “There’s a feeling”: “De Niro Talks About Acting,” Marchall Fine, Gannett News Service, March 12, 1989.
6 “think of Leonard Melfi”: HRC.
7 “I could just play it”: “Maximum Expression.”
8 “I like Sean”: Ibid.
9 “When Art called”: “Angels Find Heaven in the Canadian Bush,” Moira Farrow, New York Times, May 28, 1989.
10 “The script has all”: Ibid.
11 “Sean and Bob”: Ibid.
12 “I was trying to find a line”: “Coiled and Steady,” Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune, March 5, 1989.
Chapter 17
1 “This resident can be described”: HRC.
2 “I was drawn to the book”: “Fall Preview: Movies,” David Denby, New York, September 10, 1990.
3 “Lots of bets”: HRC.
4 “Anyone who wants to live”: “Goodfellas Look at the Banality of Mob Life,” Susan Linfield, New York Times, September 16, 1990.
5 “I’ll never forget first meeting”: “Untouchable World of De Niro the Godfather.”
6 “like overhearing a man”: “Into a Realm Where Time Stops,” Oliver Sacks, New York Times, December 16, 1990.
7 “Bob’s method”: Ibid.
8 “You say, ‘Bob’ ”: “Miracles Happen in Awakenings,” Fred Schruers, Premiere, January 1991.
9 “I had my nose broken”: “Method and the Man.”
10 “A writer or a painter”: “De Niro Is Trying Life Behind the Camera,” William H. Honan, New York Times, August 23, 1989.
11 “There were 20 people”: “Wagging Tale,” Merle Ginsberg, W, March 1998.
12 “Bob was shooting”: Ibid.
13 “He said, ‘What do you want”: “Tribeca Titan,” Amy Clyde, Vogue, August 1993.
14 “Look, if it doesn’t work out”: “De Niro’s Leading Lady,” Joanna Molloy, New York, July 27, 1992.
15 “There was one guy”: W, March 1998.
16 “She puts it all”: “Jane of All Trades,” Meryl Gordon, New York, May 6, 2002.
17 “When I started my own”: “Tribeca Stories,” Martha Frankel, American Film, October 1990.
18 “I haven’t seen”: “Maximum Expression.”
19 “At the end of Mandela’s speech”: “Tribeca Stories.”
Chapter 18
1 “I had faith”: “De Niro Takes on Hollywood History,” Candace Burke-Block, Long Beach Press-Telegram, March 15, 1991.
2 “Think of involvement”: HRC.
3 “It was really a no-win”: “Method and the Man.”
4 “I’d like to think”: “Untouchable World of De Niro the Godfather.”
5 “He’s always cordial”: “ ‘You Talkin’ to Me?’ ‘No!,’ ” Alan Richman, GQ, January 1991.
6 “not a headline grabber”: HRC.
7 “When I approached him”: “De Niro on De Niro.”
8 “I wrote it as an Amblin thriller”: “Martin Scorsese Ventures Back to Cape Fear,” Janet Maslin, New York Times, November 10, 1991.
9 “together sort of twisted”: Kelly, Martin Scorsese, 283.
10 “He was constantly looking”: Ibid., 287.
11 “He’s incessant”: “Are You Looking at Me?,” Alexander Tresniowski, Time, August 19, 1991.
12 “Bob brought Juliette”: Kelly, Martin Scorsese, 290.
Chapter 19
1 “You’re wrong”: HRC.
2 “I’m going to show this”: “How Primus’ Mistress Found Its Way to Screen,” Martin Grove, Hollywood Reporter, July 30, 1992.
3 “One day I was walking”: “Or Maybe He’s Not the Big Bad Wolf,” Caryn James, New York Times, August 2, 1992.
4 “He sent me a telegram”: “Barry Primus,” Rosina Lita Rubin, Premiere, July 1992.
5 “I feel like such a non-man”: HRC.
6 “It didn’t go well”: “Audiences Said, ‘Try, Try Again,’ ” New York Times, April 11, 1993.
7 “a chicken with his head”: “Night Moves,” Glenn Plaskin, New York Daily News, October 11, 1992.
8 “someone jumping”: “Night and the City and the ’90s,” John Culhane, Los Angeles Times, July 26, 1992.
9 “Jessica was sensitive”: Ibid.
10 “That’s hard to do”: “Ellen Barkin: Is She Difficult or Just Straight Outta Queens?” Jan Hoffman, New York Times, April 4, 1993.
Chapter 20
1 “Mr. De Niro will probably never”: “The Shadow King.”
2 “There was a mixed signal”: “De Niro,” Schruers.
3 “If I don’t turn it off”: “Playboy Interview: Robert De Niro.”
4 “I’m feeling angry”: Ibid.
5 “Don’t talk about world politics”: “ ‘You Talkin’ to Me?’ ‘No!’ ” Richman.
6 “I guess … ummm”: Ibid.
7 “I had three conditions”: “De Niro Finds His Voice,” Joseph Gelmis, Newsday, September 26, 1993.
8 “In Hollywood … when you say”: Newsday, September 26, 1993.
9 “What I liked about it”: Newsday, September 26, 1993.
10 “He looked me in the eye”: “De Niro Direct,” Julia Reed, Vogue, March 1993.
11 “I read some actors”: “A Walk and a Talk with Robert De Niro.”
12 “It was almost like an exam”: “Robert De Niro,” Elizabeth Kaye, New York Times, November 14, 1993.
13 “Mr. De Niro’s art”: “Robert De Niro, 71, a New York Painter and Actor’s Father,” Roberta Smith, New York Times, May 7, 1993.
14 “When De Niro finished”: “De Niro’s Hushed Memorial for Dad,” Newsday, October 19, 1993.
15 “For a long time”: “De Niro on De Niro.”
Chapter 21
1 “Is that all”: “Self-service,” Frank DiGiacomo and Joanna Molloy, New York Post, September 2, 1992.
2 “We’ve always proceeded”: “Pushing Till De Niro Cries Daddy,” Richard Johnson, New York Post, November 4, 1992.
3 “like a cheesy”: HRC.
4 “I had some great times”: Sunday Times (London), January 19, 2004.
Chapter 22
1 “Any place that pushes”: “Martin Scorsese, Attracted to Excess, Still Taking Risks,” Bernard Weinraub, New York Times, November 27, 1995.
2 “It was uneven”: “Holding Her Own with the Big Boys,” William Grimes, New York Times, November 19, 1995.
3 “Neil and Hanna”: HRC.
4 “The background is as monochromatic”: “Michael Mann: Hot Again with L.A. Vice,” Jamie Diamond, New Yo
rk Times, December 24, 1995.
5 “islands in the gathering”: “Bob and Al in the Coffee Shop,” Sight and Sound, March 1996.
6 “sees the part”: “De Niro and Pacino Star in a Film. Together,” Bernard Weinraub, New York Times, July 27, 1995.
Chapter 23
1 “We lived on a farm”: “Grace Hightower’s Coffee Journey,” Laura Everage, Coffee Universe, March 24, 2013.
2 “I did everything”: “The TriBeCa-Rwanda Connection,” Joshua David Stein, New York Times, July 18, 2013.
3 “It was an ease-in”: Ibid.
4 “the most stable”: “Raging Romance,” People, July 7, 1997.
5 “He’s great at keeping”: “Stealth Wedding for De Niro,” George Rush, New York Daily News, June 24, 1997.
6 “priests are not supposed”: “Dark Star,” Garth Pearce, Time Out, December 18, 1996.
7 “Do I smoke”: HRC.
Chapter 24
1 “Robert De Niro is a hack”: “Ten Things You Can’t Say About the Movies,” Tom Carson, Esquire, April 1999.
2 “It’s a very good project”: HRC.
3 “He was attentive”: “ ‘Call-Girl Leader’ Set Up De Niro with Porn Queen: Tab,” Bill Hoffman, New York Post, February 17, 1998.
4 “told me that Bourgeois”: Ibid.
5 “I had sex”: Ibid.
6 “I never had any attaché case”: Ibid.
7 “I have 20 years”: “Will Judge’s ‘Dog’ Days Get a Collar?,” George Rush and Joanna Molloy, New York Daily News, February 13, 1998.
8 “I was shocked”: “French Cops Quiz De Niro in Hooker Probe,” Tracy Connor and Bill Hoffman, New York Post, February 11, 1998.
9 “He’s a charming man”: “Lawyer Insists De Niro Never Paid for Sex,” Times (London), February 12, 1998.
10 “The name of Robert De Niro”: “De Niro Fuming over French Diss,” Tracy Connor, New York Post, February 12, 1998.
11 “De Niro’s participation”: “Police Probe Pushes De Niro off Pope’s List,” David Rooney, Variety, February 23, 1998.
12 “Bob was afraid”: “Psychotherapy He Can’t Refuse,” Bernard Weinraub, New York Times, February 26, 1990.
13 “It’s not as if he has a shtick”: Author interview.
Chapter 25
1 “The mayor told us”: “De Niro Group Replaced as Developers in Brooklyn,” Terry Pristin, New York Times, October 14, 1999.
2 “stick it up”: “De Niro and Weinstein Sticking It to Giuliani by Heading to Yonkers,” Greg Sargent and Josh Benson, New York Observer, April 17, 2000.
3 “hands behind back”: HRC.
4 “It was a big disappointment”: “Jane of All Trades.”
Chapter 26
1 “I feel indebted”: Peter Schjeldahl, “Fruit and Turpentine,” Village Voice, January 31, 1995.
2 “Not only as a painter”: “Paint Brushes Full, Robert De Niro Sr. Really Thought Big,” Hilton Kramer, New York Observer, March 7, 2005.
3 “He’s pathetic”: “Imposter Double-dares De Niro,” Philip Recchia, New York Post, February 2, 2003.
4 “Fuck you”: “How to Make a Score,” Jess Cagle, Time, July 16, 2001.
5 “The assumption that conflict is bad”: Ibid.
6 “I probably could have”: “Tea and Reflection,” Rick Lyman, New York Times, July 20, 2000.
Chapter 27
1 “I left a meeting”: “What I’ve Learned: Robert De Niro.”
2 “Bob felt personally”: “Jane of All Trades.”
3 “I keep reminding”: Ibid.
4 “This neighborhood”: “TriBeCa Film Fest, Take 2, Planned for May,” New York Times, February 21, 2003.
5 “part of the tradition”: “Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Mission,” Ed Pilkington, Guardian (London), April 14, 2013.
6 “I decided to be even more”: Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company v. Robert De Niro, Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division Five, 2009 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 4712, June 15, 2009.
7 “I don’t know if I hoped”: “The Patient Is a Don Named Paul,” Dave Kehr, New York Times, December 6, 2002.
Chapter 28
1 “He has done nothing”: “Uproar over Citizen De Niro,” Paula Froelich and Christ Wilson, New York Post, August 14, 2004.
2 “I said one night”: “Intelligence Design,” John Horn, Los Angeles Times, November 5, 2006.
3 “I’d love to make this movie”: “Spy Pic Coin Spooks King,” Dana Harris, Variety, November 12, 2004.
4 “Matt was crucial”: “Yeah, I’m Talkin’ to You,” Belinda Luscombe, Time, December 11, 2006.
5 “I didn’t have that much confidence”: “And Now, 972 Words from Robert De Niro,” Chris Heath, GQ, January 2007.
6 “In movies where people”: “Intelligence Design.”
7 “If she [Hightower]”: “Housekeeper to the Stars Admits Stealing from Her Least Favorites,” Anemona Hartocollis, New York Times, February 9, 2006.
8 “If you have me arrested”: “ ‘Maid’ Out Like a Bandit vs. De Niro,” Laura Italian, Philip Messing and Lukas I. Alpert, New York Post, June 22, 2005.
Chapter 29
1 “We worked on this”: “De Niro Asks Commission to Spare Hotel’s Penthouse,” Michael Wilson, New York Times, June 18, 2008.
2 “It was dirty”: “The Name Rings a Bell,” Christine Haughney, New York Times, January 30, 2011.
3 “a little bit of a wild kid”: Ibid.
4 “I was into that idea”: Edward Norton interviewed in Kenny, Robert De Niro.
5 “I think Bob was just switched on”: Ibid.
6 “A lot of times actors”: Ibid.
Chapter 30
1 “Robert and I have been speaking”: “Making of Silver Linings Playbook,” Tatiana Siegel, Hollywood Reporter, December 14, 2012.
2 “When I’m being polite”: “Proust Questionnaire: Robert De Niro,” Vanity Fair, March 2013.
3 “I always wanted to chronicle”: “What I’ve Learned: Robert De Niro.”
4 “I guess you could call it”: “Robert De Niro’s Wife Grace Hightower Keeps Surrogate Daughter Undercover as She Steps Out with Bundle of Joy for First Time,” Sarah Fitzmaurice, Daily Mail (London), March 2, 2012.
5 “I have young kids”: “The Best Is Yet to Come,” David Hochman, AARP, October–November, 2013.
6 “I feel optimistic”: Ibid.
De Niro Biographies
Note: Of the following, those by Baxter and Dougan are the fullest works of biographical research and analysis.
Baxter, John. De Niro: A Biography. London: HarperCollins, 2002.
Brode, Douglas. The Films of Robert De Niro, 4th ed. New York: Citadel, 2001.
Cameron-Wilson, James. The Cinema of Robert De Niro. London: Zomba Books, 1986.
Dougan, Andy. Untouchable: A Biography of Robert De Niro. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1996.
McKay, Keith. Robert De Niro: The Hero Behind the Masks. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986.
Nisini, Giorgio. Robert De Niro. Rome: Gremese Editore, 2004.
Parker, John. Robert De Niro: Portrait of a Legend. London: John Blake, 2009.
Rauch, Andrew J. The Films of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2010.
Robert De Niro Sr. and Virginia Admiral: Their Lives, Art, and Times
Bair, Deirdre. Anaïs Nin: A Biography. New York: Putnam, 1995.
D. C. Moore Gallery. Robert De Niro Sr.: Paintings and Drawings, 1960–1993. New York: D. C. Moore Gallery, 2012.
De Niro, Robert, Sr. A Fashionable Watering Place: Poems. New York: 1976.
Fitch, Noel Riley. Anaïs: The Erotic Life of Anaïs Nin. New York: Little, Brown, 1993.
Hackett-Freedman Gallery. Robert De Niro Sr.: Selected Works. San Francisco: Hackett-Freedman Gallery, 1998.
Harris, Mary Emma. The Arts at Black Mountain College. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987.
Jarnot, Lisa. Robert Duncan: The Ambassador from Venus, a Biog
raphy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.
Kelly, Andrew, and Ivana Salander, eds. Robert De Niro Sr. New York: Salander-O’Reilly, 2004.
Nin, Anaïs. The Diary of Anaïs Nin, vol. 2, 1934–1939. New York: Swallow Press, 1967.
_____. The Diary of Anaïs Nin, vol. 3, 1939–1944. New York: Mariner, 1971.
O’Hara, Frank. Standing Still and Walking in New York. San Francisco: Grey Fox, 1983.
Perl, Jed. New Art City: Manhattan at Mid-Century. New York: Knopf, 2005.
Rivers, Larry, with Arnold Weinstein. What Did I Do? The Unauthorized Autobiography. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
Sandler, Irving. The New York School: The Painters and Sculptors of the Fifties. New York: Harper and Row, 1978.
Film Histories and Biographies Bearing on De Niro, His Films, His Career, and His Milieu
Abramowitz, Rachel. Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? Women’s Experience of Power in Hollywood. New York: Random House, 2000.
Adams, Cindy. Lee Strasberg. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980.
Bach, Steven. Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of “Heaven’s Gate.” New York: William Morrow, 1985.
Baer, William, ed. Elia Kazan Interviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2000.
Biskind, Peter. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock-’n’-Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.
_____. Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004.
Brenner, Marie. Going Hollywood: An Insider’s Look at Power and Pretense in the Movie Business. New York: Delacorte Press, 1978.
Brunette, Peter. Martin Scorsese Interviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1999.
Cameron, Julia. Floor Sample: A Creative Memoir. New York: Penguin, 2006.
Cosgrove, Bill. Robert De Niro and the Fireman. Bethel, CT: Rutledge, 1997.
Cowie, Peter. Coppola: A Biography. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1990.