Robert De Niro, star of new gangster film 'The Alto Knights', tells NME about working with co-star Debra Messing, his favourite artists right now and what went down at his legendary dinner with Oasis' Noel Gallagher.
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00:00Hi, I'm Alex from NME and today I'm delighted to be joined by the stars of new gangster
00:17film The Alto Knights. It's Deborah Messing and of course Robert De Niro. How are we doing?
00:22Great.
00:23So I saw the film last night. It's obviously about the story between two warring gangsters.
00:27But for me the most important relationship in the film is between Frank and his wife
00:33Bobbie. Could you please tell me how you worked together to create the chemistry that we see
00:36on scene?
00:37Barry and I had seen a few people and read with people and so on and felt that Deborah
00:43was the best person as she was and we were very lucky to have her.
00:48There was a level of comfort and playfulness I think when we first met and I auditioned.
00:54I'm thrilled that our relationship resonated with you.
00:58Because Deborah I think this is your first true mobster film.
01:02Yes.
01:03And that's with Robert who's done a few before. So was it useful to draw on that sort of knowledge
01:08from those types of films?
01:09Oh yes, absolutely. I mean I had already watched them all before but then I went back and I
01:14watched them but because they were real people it just was a completely new way of approaching
01:21a role. It was really just doing deep, deep research. I read seven books on Frank Costello
01:27and I was able to speak with Bobbie's great nephew and we were able to get incredibly
01:34specific information about their relationship and I think that was incredibly helpful as
01:40a foundation for when we got on set.
01:43Obviously the film starts with Frank getting shot in the head. I don't think that's a spoiler
01:46to say. And that happened in real life but he survived, point blank. That's amazing to
01:52me. Did that actually happen like that in real life?
01:55Yeah it did. The bullet went around in the skin and around and he didn't, yeah. And in
02:01fact the place that it was done, where it did happen, I think they still have the mark
02:07of the bullet apparently in, I was told by some people.
02:12Let's remember something. I put you where you are today. It's because of me, Mr. Good Citizen.
02:20You want to be like them? Come on, you ain't like them. They own this country.
02:25They're bigger gangsters than we ever could be.
02:29Enemy is a music magazine, didn't know. And our readers at the moment are all a flutter
02:33because a certain band that have been broken up for a long time are getting back together.
02:38Oasis. And Robert, I know that you have met Noel Gallagher because he posted this picture
02:45of you at a dinner on his Instagram in the south of France once. And he's gone on the
02:50radio to talk about it and I just wanted to know if you remember that and any memories
02:56of what happened.
02:57I don't remember but I know where it is. Yeah and I heard about it just through a mutual,
03:04a friend who knows him. He said they were getting back together and it's a big, big deal.
03:12Yeah and Noel said in this radio interview about this music, because he was so made up,
03:16he said he bent your ear for about two hours asking about Oasis.
03:19But he said that you didn't know who Oasis were but when you were leaving, you asked
03:24him the name, what was that band? And he said Oasis. And I just wondered, did you go away
03:29and listen to them?
03:30No.
03:35I love your honesty.
03:36But I had, I did have a mutual friend who told me that we almost had dinner with him
03:41supposedly last night. I was told we were going to have dinner but it didn't happen.
03:48Last night.
03:49We just grew up together.
03:51Frank sometimes forgets where he comes from.
03:54You're more fly off the handle.
03:57You make sure he's dead. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
04:02We always ask, because we're a music magazine like I said, if you had to pick one go-to
04:07album that you always go back to, it's kind of like a classic, you sort of like a comfort
04:12listen maybe, what would it be and why?
04:14I don't know, I like rock and roll, you know that's the stuff I used to like to listen
04:19to a lot when I was a kid, teenager. Now I've just been listening to Sinatra, those types
04:26of songs, Tony Bennett, Sinatra, that period, Nat King Cole. For some reason, I don't know
04:34why, it just feels more nostalgic. I've been doing that, I don't know.
04:42This might disappoint your readers, but mine would be the soundtrack to Funny Girl.
04:49Oh amazing, I knew it.
04:51Yes, Funny Girl, Barbra Streisand, the Broadway show. She was the reason that I believed that
04:59I could become an actress. When I was living next to a farm and I was a kid and I saw that
05:04movie and I was like, I can do that.
05:11Thank you so much for chatting to me guys, it's been a pleasure.