(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Stills)
Sun 10 August 2025 20:15, UK
For an esteemed actor like Robert De Niro, there isn’t much he hasn’t tried. With a stack of credits that bulks up the majority of the New Hollywood movement, he is one of the most prolific and revered of his generation, rightly placed on a god-like pedestal within the movie business.
Whether it be taking hits in the ring as the violent boxer in Raging Bull or his high-octane chase sequences in Heat, De Niro has embodied every scumbag, lowlife and anti-hero under the sun. But perhaps being the face of the gangster genre can be a little tiresome and repetitious, with only so many stunts and police confrontations you can muster before growing a little tired of the stereotypes that come with these characters. It was perhaps for this reason that De Niro took on his most unexpected and challenging role to date, despite the fact that almost nobody has seen it.
Many great directors rose through the Hollywood ranks in the 1970s, with a crop of new talent breaking through the industry’s pearly front gates and dismantling the studio system head-on. Barry Levinson was one of many to do so, rising up after the beginning of this movement through projects like Rain Man and Good Morning, Vietnam. But while he was a massive hit in the 1980s, the filmmaker recently made his comeback on television through his original Warner Bros series, The Alton Knight.
The series is set during the ’50s, following notorious crime bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese and their turbulent friendship. It might sound like every other gangster story brought to the screen, but Levinson added a modern twist to the series through the fact that De Niro plays both lead characters. What sounds like a bonkers idea, given that both men aren’t even remotely related, was perhaps what drew De Niro to the role.
When discussing the series, the actor explained how Al Pacino had been considered for one of the leading roles, but they “started to quickly go the other way”. Naturally, this led them to consider the only other obvious option – De Niro playing both of the roles himself.
When asked why he did this, De Niro responded, “Why not? I just thought that it was an interesting idea. I’ve never done it before. I would’ve done the movie whether I did the two parts or not, but I’m certainly glad I took that challenge. It was a challenge, but I said, and excuse my French, fuck it, I’m going to do it. I didn’t see any reason not to.”
It’s a bonkers idea on paper, and one that doesn’t necessarily make any narrative sense and is purely based on the spectacle of seeing De Niro extend himself across two characters in one project. But if there’s anyone who can pull it off, it’s him, with most people being somewhat intrigued by the concept and tuning in just to see how he manages this.
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