Is this the effect of the stool he chose to sit on? Badly planted on his buttocks, permanently unbalanced, Robert De Niro risks slipping at any moment, but he seems to prefer a certain monastic rigor in this place which exudes luxury and comfort, the Majestic Hotel, in Cannes. This Saturday, May 20, the biggest film festival has just reached its cruising speed and, in a few hours, the actor will climb the steps to present the new film directed by Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moontheir tenth collaboration in half a century (in theaters October 18).
In his suite, on this stool, Robert De Niro crosses his legs, determined to further reduce his living space. In three months, in August, he will be 80 years old. Is it the approach of this new decade that is transforming it?
Suddenly he says: “I’m going to talk to you today. » A sensational sentence from an actor known for years to evade the exercise of the interview. When it comes to speaking, Robert De Niro has always advocated austerity: he has the habit of brushing aside questions, shaking his head indifferently, never finishing his sentences. “You know, I never had a real conversation with him,” confides Martin Scorsese, who has been around him for so many years. This day in May, Robert De Niro, concerned about old age and transmission, tries his hand at confiding.
Reaching 80 doesn’t make him happy, the symbolism of the number bothers him. It announces an end, if not imminent, at least planned. “It’s annoying, but that’s life,” he blurted. Previously, the actor liked to tell his children: “You know, I’m not going to live forever. » He repeated it without believing it. Emphasizing this deadline allowed him to imagine that things would continue forever. His own mortality was none of his business. “I told myself that it wasn’t possible, he explains. Now I know what awaits me. I would like to stay strong and clear in my head for as long as possible. Getting there isn’t bad enough. Lasting a little longer, a year, two years maybe, would be good. But there is no guarantee. »
As he gets older, Robert De Niro, father of seven children – born between 1976 and 2023 for the youngest – views his family vacations with a new eye. At the start of the year, filming of the Netflix series Zero Day, in which he plays a former president called to head a commission of inquiry into a cyberattack, was interrupted by the Hollywood actors’ strike. But, strike or not, his plans would have remained the same. Each year he devotes the months of July and August to his family. Work resumes at the start of the school year, not before. “I need this time, it’s precious. This is no longer negotiable. »
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