1963–1973: Early roles and breakthrough 's film
Mean Streets (1973) De Niro had minor film roles in
Encounter, Three Rooms in Manhattan (both released in 1965) and
Les Jeunes Loups (1968). Shortly afterwards, De Niro landed a major role in
Greetings (1968), a
satirical film about men avoiding the
Vietnam War draft. The film marked the first of a series of early collaborations between De Niro and director
Brian De Palma. A year later, De Niro appeared in the drama ''
Sam's Song'' in which he portrays a New York City filmmaker. Also in 1969, he appeared in De Palma's comedy
The Wedding Party; although it was filmed in 1963, it was kept unreleased for six years. De Niro, who was still unknown at the time, gained a favorable review from
The New York Times Howard Thompson: "This farcical comedy, modestly produced by a trio of young people and utilizing some unfamiliar faces, is great fun." He then appeared in
Roger Corman's low-budget crime drama
Bloody Mama (1970), a loose adaptation of
Ma Barker's life, who was the mother of four American criminals, of which De Niro portrayed one: Lloyd Barker. Thompson praised the film and thought the cast gave "fine performances". Next, De Niro starred in De Palma's comedy
Hi, Mom! (1970), a sequel to
Greetings. Writing for
The New Yorker,
Richard Brody opined that De Niro "brings unhinged spontaneity" to his character. He also had a small role in
Jennifer on My Mind (1971) and in
Ivan Passer's
Born to Win (1971). His last film appearance of 1971 was in ''
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight'', a crime-comedy based on
the 1969 novel by
Jimmy Breslin. In 1972, De Niro starred in two performances at
The American Place Theatre, directed by Charles Maryan.
Variety magazine's Alex Belth also took note of De Niro's "touching" portrayal, while Gardenia was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Harris later wrote about De Niro, "He learned only as much baseball as he needed for his role [...] I doubt that he ever cared to touch a baseball again."
Pauline Kael of
The New York Times was equally impressed by De Niro, writing he is "a bravura actor, and those who have registered him only as the grinning, tobacco-chewing dolt of that hunk of inept whimsey
Bang the Drum Slowly will be unprepared for his volatile performance. De Niro does something like what
Dustin Hoffman was doing in
Midnight Cowboy, but wilder; this kid doesn't just act – he takes off into the vapors." In 1997,
Mean Streets was selected for preservation in the U.S.
National Film Registry by the
Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
1974–1980: Scorsese collaboration and acclaim De Niro had a pivotal role in
Francis Ford Coppola's crime
epic The Godfather Part II (1974), playing the young
Vito Corleone. De Niro had previously auditioned for the first installment,
The Godfather (1972), but quit the project in favor of doing ''The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
. Coppola, having remembered him, gave De Niro a role in Part II
instead. To portray his character, De Niro spoke mainly in several Sicilian dialects, The Godfather Part II'' received eleven nominations at the
47th Academy Awards, winning six, including one for De Niro as
Best Supporting Actor, making him the
third-youngest winner in the category at the time. It was De Niro's first Academy win; Coppola accepted the award on his behalf as he did not attend the ceremony. De Niro and
Marlon Brando, who played the older Vito Corleone in the first film, were the first pair of actors to win Academy Awards for
portraying the same fictional character. After working with Scorsese in
Mean Streets, De Niro collaborated with him again for the psychological drama
Taxi Driver (1976). Set in gritty and morally bankrupt New York City following the
Vietnam War, the film tells the story of
Travis Bickle, a lonely taxi driver who descends into insanity. In preparation for the role, De Niro spent time with members of a U.S. army base to learn their
Midwestern accent and mannerisms. He also lost 30 pounds (13 kg) in weight, took firearm training and studied the behavior of taxi drivers. The film was critically acclaimed, in particular for De Niro's performance;
The Washington Post critic hailed it as his "landmark performance", and the
San Francisco Chronicle wrote "De Niro is dazzling in one of his signature roles." The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including
Best Actor for De Niro. His "
You talkin' to me?" quote, which he improvised, was selected as the 10th most memorable quote in the
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes by the
American Film Institute. In 2005, the film was chosen by
Time magazine as one of the
100 best films of all time. play a married couple in the film
1900.|alt= De Niro had two other film releases in 1976. He starred in
1900, a historical drama directed by
Bernardo Bertolucci. Starring an
ensemble cast, the film is set in the
Emilia region of Italy, and tells the story of two men, the landowner Alfredo Berlinghieri (De Niro) and the
peasant Olmo Dalcò (
Gérard Depardieu), as they witness and participate in the political conflicts between
fascism and
communism in the first half of the twentieth century. Next, he played a
CEO in
The Last Tycoon, based on
F. Scott Fitzgerald's
novel of the same name, as adapted by British
screenwriter Harold Pinter. De Niro lost 42 pounds (19 kg) for the role, and director
Elia Kazan observed that De Niro would rehearse on Sundays, adding "Bobby and I would go over the scenes to be shot. Bobby is more meticulous... he's very imaginative. He's very precise. He figures everything out both inside and outside. He has good emotion. He's a
character actor: everything he does he calculates. In a good way, but he calculates." The film received mixed reviews;
Variety magazine critic opined that the film was "unfocused" and called De Niro's performance "mildly intriguing". Film critic
Marie Brenner wrote, "it is a role that surpasses even his brilliant and daring portrayal of Vito Corleone in
The Godfather Part II... his performance deserves to be compared with the very finest." For De Niro's sole project of 1977, he starred in Scorsese's musical drama
New York, New York opposite
Liza Minnelli. De Niro learned to play the
saxophone from musician
Georgie Auld, to portray saxophonist Jimmy, who falls in love with a pop singer (Minnelli). The film received generally mixed reception, although critics were kinder to De Niro. The film was nominated for four
Golden Globe awards including
Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for De Niro. In 1978, De Niro starred in
Michael Cimino's epic war film
The Deer Hunter, in which he played a steelworker whose life was changed after serving in the
Vietnam War. He co-starred with
Christopher Walken,
John Savage,
John Cazale,
Meryl Streep, and
George Dzundza. The story takes place in
Clairton, Pennsylvania, a
working-class town on the
Monongahela River south of
Pittsburgh, and in Vietnam. Producer
Michael Deeley pursued De Niro for the role, because the fame of his previous films would help make a "gruesome-sounding storyline and a barely known director" marketable. De Niro, impressed by the script and director's preparation, was among the first to sign on to the film. Reviews for
The Deer Hunter were generally positive, and the cast attracted strong praise for their performances. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 53rd-greatest American film of all time in their
10th Anniversary Edition of the
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list. The fourth collaboration between De Niro and Scorsese was in 1980, with the biographical drama
Raging Bull. Adapted from
Jake LaMotta's memoir
Raging Bull: My Story, De Niro portrays LaMotta, the Italian-American
middleweight boxer whose violent behavior and temper destroyed his relationship with his wife and family. Co-starring
Joe Pesci and
Cathy Moriarty, De Niro later said it was one of the toughest roles to prepare for because he had to gain 60 pounds (27 kg), and had to learn to box. "The book's not great literature, but it's got a lot of heart", De Niro told Scorsese at the time. Although the film received critical acclaim, some reviewers were divided and criticized its "exceedingly violent" content; however, De Niro garnered praise for his realistic portrayal. The critic from
The Hollywood Reporter declared that "De Niro is incredible and makes the actor almost unrecognizable as himself; he looks amazingly like La Motta. De Niro's appearance is also astonishing in the final scenes." Michael Thomson of the
BBC observed "the power of Scorsese is matched by the intensity of De Niro who delves deep into the soul of the boxer." At the
53rd Academy Awards, the film received eight nominations, including Best Actor for De Niro for which he won.
Raging Bull has since been regarded as one of the greatest films of the 1980s by American critics.
1981–1991: Dramas, comedies and awards success De Niro returned to the crime genre with
True Confessions (1981), adapted from the 1977
novel of the same name by
John Gregory Dunne. Less challenging than his previous film, De Niro played a priest who clashes with his brother (
Robert Duvall), a detective investigating the murder of a prostitute.
Vincent Canby of
The New York Times thought the plot was hard to follow at times but praised the actors who "work so beautifully together it sometimes seems like a single performance." To expand his range of acting roles and to prove his acting abilities, De Niro sought out films with a comedic tone throughout the 1980s. He found it in
The King of Comedy (1982), in which he played the struggling
stand-up comedian Rupert Pupkin. De Niro was first to bring the script to the attention of Scorsese, who then gave it a New York setting and darker tone. The film failed to find an audience, and was a
box office disappointment, grossing only $2.5 million from a budget of $19 million. However, most critics praised De Niro's performance. His next film credit was in
Sergio Leone's
Once Upon a Time in America (1984), in which he plays David "Noodles" Aaronson, a New York City Jewish gangster. The theatrical cut, with a runtime of 229 minutes, premiered at the
1984 Cannes Film Festival and received a 15-minute standing ovation. The film was shortened for theaters in the U.S. (139 minutes), but this proved to be highly unpopular with critics.
Falling in Love, a romantic comedy starring opposite Meryl Streep, was his last release of 1984. One year later, De Niro starred in a
science fiction for the first time,
Brazil, about a daydreaming man living in a
dystopian society. Although the film was unsuccessful at the box office,
Brazil was included in
The Criterion Collection. In May 1986, De Niro returned to the stage at
Longacre Theatre, playing the lead role in the production
Cuba and His Teddy Bear. For his next feature film, he co-starred in
The Mission (1986) with
Jeremy Irons, a
period drama about the experiences of a
Jesuit missionary in eighteenth century South America. Vincent Canby reviewed the film negatively, and was critical of De Niro's casting: "De Niro, who was very fine as the street-wise priest in
True Confessions, is all right here until he opens his mouth." However, the film won an Academy Award for
Best Cinematography, three BAFTAs, including
Best Editing, and two Golden Globes for
Best Screenplay and
Best Original Score. In 1987, De Niro had two minor film roles. In the first, he was cast as Louis Cyphre in
Alan Parker's horror
Angel Heart, an adaptation of
William Hjortsberg's 1978 novel
Falling Angel. In the second, he portrayed
Al Capone in De Palma's crime drama,
The Untouchables. While Pauline Kael opined that De Niro was "lazy" for undertaking small roles, De Palma defended him by saying he was "experimenting with those characters". In July 1987, he traveled to Russia to serve as president of the jury at the
15th Moscow International Film Festival. Finally that year, he provided a
voice-over for the documentary
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. The
buddy cop film,
Midnight Run, was his next effort in 1988. Starring opposite
Charles Grodin, De Niro played
bounty hunter Jack Walsh. The film received amicable reception and was a commercial success, grossing $81 million worldwide. In his mixed review,
Hal Hinson of
The Washington Post wrote of De Niro: De Niro has reduced himself in scale here, too, and it's a relief to see him drop the great-actor mantle, and the theatricality. As a result, he hasn't seemed as fresh since
Mean Streets or
New York, New York. Walsh is more of a character role than the ones he played in those films; there's less specificity in the conception – he's more of a type – but the actor fits into him snugly, effortlessly, and the chance to play comedy, particularly opposite a comic foil as ideal as Grodin, appears to have revitalized him. He turned down an opportunity to play
Jesus Christ in Scorsese's
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), although he told the director that he would do it as a favor if needed. Scorsese cast
Willem Dafoe instead. In 1989, De Niro starred in several films that were not widely seen. He starred alongside
Ed Harris and
Kathy Baker in the drama
Jacknife. The film revolves around the complex relationship between a
Vietnam veteran, his sister and fellow army buddy. Next, he starred in the crime comedy
''We're No Angels (1989) with
Sean Penn and
Demi Moore, a remake of the 1955
film of the same name. The pair play escaped convicts who go on the run towards Canada. A year later, he starred in the romantic drama
Stanley & Iris opposite Jane Fonda. Film critics did not receive We're No Angels
or Stanley & Iris
positively; modern review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives them approval ratings of 47% and 33%, respectively., 1988|alt=De Niro at the 1988 Deauville Film FestivalDe Niro and Scorsese soon reunited for their sixth collaboration in 1990, with the crime film Goodfellas.
It is an adaptation of the 1985 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi. The film narrates the life of mob associate Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his friends and family from 1955 to 1980. De Niro played James Conway, an Irish truck carjacker and gangster. Goodfellas
premiered at the 47th Venice International Film Festival to an "enthusiastic" response from Italian critics, although it grossed a moderate $46 million upon its wider release. Writing for Rolling Stone'' magazine,
Peter Travers, praised the cast performances, and called De Niro's character "a smooth killer acted with riveting restraint".
Chicago Tribune Gene Siskel was equally impressed by their improvised performances and concluded "easily one of the year's best films." In the awards season, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards, and De Niro was nominated for
Best Actor at the BAFTAs. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 92nd-greatest American film of all time in their 10th Anniversary Edition of the AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list. '', a role in which he was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actor. De Niro's next film project was the drama
Guilty by Suspicion (1991) in which he plays David Merrill, a fictitious film director, returning to the U.S. during the
McCarthy era and
Hollywood blacklist. The film received generally favorable reviews. He then had a minor role in the
mystery drama
Backdraft (1991), playing a veteran fire inspector. De Niro's biggest success of 1991 was
Cape Fear, his seventh film with Scorsese and a remake of the 1962
film of the same name. De Niro portrays convicted rapist
Max Cady, who seeks revenge against a former
public defender who originally defended him. De Niro's performance was widely lauded.
David Ansen of
Newsweek remarked that De Niro "dominates the film with his lip-smacking, blackly comic and terrifying portrayal of psychopathic self-righteousness." The film grossed a successful $182 million and earned De Niro a Best Actor nomination at the
64th Academy Awards.
1992–1997: Directorial debut and crime dramas In 1992, De Niro appeared in two films. The first,
Mistress, is a comedy-drama in which he played ruthless businessman Evan Wright. Of his performance, the critic from
The Independent called De Niro "more urbane and coherent than we've seen him for a while."
Irwin Winkler's
Night and the City was his second release, a crime drama remake of the 1950
film noir of the same name. He was cast as New York lawyer Harry Fabian.
Owen Gleiberman of
Entertainment Weekly gave the film a rating of "B−" and was critical of De Niro: "The actor who once got so far inside his roles that he just about detonated the screen – now plays characters who don't seem to have any inner life at all." Next, he served as a producer for the mystery thriller
Thunderheart (1992)
. In 1993, he played crime scene photographer Wayne Dobie in the comedy drama
Mad Dog and Glory with co-stars
Uma Thurman and
Bill Murray. The feature received reasonable reviews and was lauded for the chemistry between De Niro and Murray;
The Washington Post critic noted that their "real-life friendship spills over into this jittery, very funny look at the male bonding experience." Next, De Niro starred in the
coming-of-age film ''
This Boy's Life (1993), based on the memoir of the same name by Tobias Wolff. It features Ellen Barkin and Leonardo DiCaprio. Playing stepfather Dwight Hansen of Wolff (DiCaprio), the film was mostly well received, although Timeout'' magazine believed that "DiCaprio steals the show". De Niro starred in his directorial debut,
A Bronx Tale (1993), a coming-of-age story about an Italian-American boy who is torn between the temptations of organized crime, racism in his community, and the values of his decent father. The film also stars
Chazz Palminteri, who wrote the
play of the same name, and is based on his childhood.
A Bronx Tale premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival to a positive response; Marjorie Baumgarten of
The Austin Chronicle wrote "De Niro's choices as a director all seem prudent and un-showy, designed to draw attention to the characters and the story rather than its technical assemblage and much-lauded star."
Variety magazine
Todd McCarthy took issue with the film's slow start but complimented De Niro's "impressive sensitivity to the irrational roots of racism and violence." A year later, De Niro was cast in the lead role of
''Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'', an adaptation of
Mary Shelley's 1818 novel
Frankenstein. Although the film was commercially successful, earning $112 million worldwide, the general consensus of reviews were largely negative. Film critic
James Berardinelli opined that it was entertaining and De Niro gave a strong performance, despite the film's "frantic" pace. , 1993|alt=De Niro at the 1993 Venice Film Festival
Casino (1995) marked De Niro's return to the crime genre with Scorsese in their eighth collaboration. Co-starring
Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci, the film is based on the book
Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by
Nicholas Pileggi. De Niro portrays Sam "Ace" Rothstein, a mob-connected casino operator in Las Vegas. The film's themes revolve around greed, betrayal, wealth, status, and murder that occur between two mobsters, Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro) and Nicky Santoro (Pesci), and a
trophy wife (Stone) over a gambling empire.
Casino was released to mostly positive critical reception, and was a success at the worldwide box office. Roger Ebert was impressed with the lead performers' abilities to "inhabit their roles with unconscious assurance", and
The Globe and Mail's critic thought "De Niro does an extraordinarily subtle job of capturing the
paradox [...] that lie at the heart of this picture." Shortly afterwards, he starred in 1995's crime thriller
Heat, about a group of professional bank robbers.
Art Linson, who had previously produced films starring De Niro, sent him the script first. "It was very good, very strong, had a particular feel to it, a reality and authenticity", De Niro said. Co-starring
Al Pacino,
Val Kilmer,
Tom Sizemore, and
Jon Voight among others, the film was released to wide acclaim; Michael Wilmington of the
Chicago Tribune wrote: De Niro and Pacino redeem everything. In
Heat, they represent a high postwar tradition for movie actors – the ones inspired by
Marlon Brando,
John Cassavetes and
James Dean – who aren't afraid of emotion, who run right into the jaws of a scene to grab it. Like others from their generation –
Jack Nicholson,
Gene Hackman,
Harvey Keitel – they have a keener slant on machismo. They easily explore its darker strata.
Heat marked the first time that Pacino and De Niro appeared on-screen together; they were both in
The Godfather Part II but were never in any scenes together because the film takes place in two separate timelines. De Niro as Vito Corleone was in the past and Pacino as his son Michael was in the present. In 1995, De Niro had minor roles in the French comedy
One Hundred and One Nights and in the drama
Panther. In 1996, De Niro starred in the sports thriller
The Fan, based on the
novel of the same name by
Peter Abrahams. De Niro plays Gil Renard, a baseball fanatic who loses his sanity. His fiftieth film credit was in the crime drama
Sleepers (1996), about four boys who become involved with crime, and are sentenced to a detention center where they are abused by guards, and seek vengeance upon release. De Niro plays priest Bobby Carillo, a father figure to the four boys. Afterwards, he appeared in
''Marvin's Room (1996) as Dr. Wallace Carter, who treats a woman (Diane Keaton) with
leukemia. Writing for the British
Empire magazine, Bob McCabe opined that "Performances are all eminently watchable [...] but the truncated feel robs the film of anything more than perfunctory pleasures." Also in 1996, De Niro co-produced the crime-comedy Faithful''. In 1996 a video game produced by De Niro called
9: The Last Resort was released. A surreal point and click puzzle game about a hotel filled with strange characters. De Niro met the game's director Buzz Hayes when Hayes worked at
Lucasfilm. The game did not do well at launch and Hayes is quoted as saying "I wouldn't call it a failure. it was just kind of a quiet landing." The following year, he appeared in
James Mangold's
Cop Land (1997), a crime-drama co-starring
Sylvester Stallone,
Harvey Keitel and
Ray Liotta. De Niro plays
Internal Affairs investigator Lt. Moe Tilden, who explores police corruption in a New Jersey town. The film opened to a generally warm response, although Barbara Shulgasser of
San Francisco Examiner criticized De Niro's acting in certain scenes, suggesting Mangold put De Niro in a "manufactured situation", preventing him from realizing his full potential. De Niro co-starred and co-produced
Wag the Dog (1997). The film is a
political satire about a biased publicist (De Niro) and a Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman) who fabricate a war in Albania to cover up a U.S. president's sex scandal. In January 1998, a month after its release, the
Clinton–Lewinsky scandal dominated the headlines, which helped the film generate publicity. As a result,
Wag the Dog was well-received and made the list of Roger Ebert's ten best films of 1997. De Niro also had a supporting role in
Quentin Tarantino's
Jackie Brown in that same year.
1998–2006: Comic roles, thrillers, and slump De Niro began 1998 with an appearance in
Great Expectations, a modern adaptation of
Charles Dickens' 1861
novel of the same name, in which he played Arthur Lustig. Later that year, his next major role came in
Ronin (1998), about a team of former
special operatives that are hired to steal a mysterious briefcase while navigating a maze of shifting loyalties. De Niro plays Sam, an American
mercenary formerly associated with the
CIA.
Ronin premiered at the
1998 Venice Film Festival to favorable response;
Janet Maslin of
The New York Times praised De Niro's confident portrayal as an action hero. In 1999, De Niro ventured back into crime-comedy; he was cast as an insecure mob boss opposite
Billy Crystal and
Lisa Kudrow in
Harold Ramis'
Analyze This. The film was a box office hit, earning $176 million worldwide, and De Niro was nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globes. In
Flawless (1999), De Niro appeared as a homophobic police officer, who suffers a stroke, and is assigned to a rehabilitative program with a gay singer. The critic from the BBC gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, and thought De Niro gave a "refreshingly low-key" performance, in comparison to his previous work. In 2000, De Niro produced and starred in his first
live-action animation comedy,
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. He voiced the character
Fearless Leader, who is a dictator and employer of two mobsters. The film was critically panned, with Rotten Tomatoes giving the film a 43% approval rating. De Niro played
Master Chief 'Billy' Sunday in the biographical drama
Men of Honor (2000), based on the life of
Carl Brashear, the first African-American to become a
U.S. Navy Master Diver. Although the film garnered mixed reviews,
Bob Thomas of the
Associated Press wrote "De Niro infuses the role with all his dynamism. It is his best performance in years." That same year, he starred in the comedy
Meet the Parents opposite
Ben Stiller as Jack Byrnes, a former CIA operative who takes a dislike to Stiller's character. De Niro, who had been seeking comic roles at the time, was encouraged by his producing partner Jane Rosenthal, to take on the role. The film was a high earner at the box office, with $330 million in receipts. Film critics welcomed De Niro's transition as a comic actor and ability to make audiences laugh. After several comedies, De Niro landed a lead role in the crime thriller
15 Minutes (2001), a story about a
homicide detective (De Niro) and a
fire marshal (
Edward Burns) who join forces to apprehend a pair of Eastern European murderers. The film's reception was generally unfavorable; William Arnold of the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer took issue with the "in-your-face exaggeration", but he thought De Niro delivered "his usual edgy flair, [...] on the mean streets of his native Manhattan." De Niro followed up with a
heist, in
Frank Oz's
The Score (2001), starring
Edward Norton,
Angela Bassett and
Marlon Brando. He plays a retiring thief when a young man (Norton) persuades him into doing one last heist together. Upon release,
The Score fared well with critics, although Peter Rainer of
New York magazine did not think the film challenged De Niro or fully utilize his talents. The next year, he played an
LAPD detective opposite
Eddie Murphy in the action-comedy
Showtime. The reviewer from
LA Weekly remarked "De Niro isn't actually playing a part but riffing on his own legend", and thought the references to
Taxi Driver were "cheap"., 2008Also in 2002, he collaborated with
Michael Caton-Jones in
City by the Sea, who had previously directed De Niro in ''This Boy's Life
. Starring opposite Frances McDormand and James Franco, he portrayed another police detective in the drama. The film received mixed reviews and under-performed at the theaters. He appeared in Analyze That (2002),'' a sequel to 1999's
Analyze This. Filming began in New York City, seven months after the
September 11 attacks. De Niro insisted on filming there, stating "It's a New York story, a New York movie. We always intended to keep it there and I'm glad we were able to do it." Upon release, most critics thought the sequel was weak;
CNN's
Paul Clinton remarked "Unfortunately the result is just a bunch of one-liners strung together, of which some work and some don't. The actual story never gets off the ground." Despite these failures, De Niro served as a producer for the critically acclaimed romantic-comedy
About a Boy (2002), and appeared in
9/11 (2002), a
CBS documentary about the September 11 attacks, told from the New York City fire department's point of view. Several critics consider De Niro's career as having begun to slump in the early 2000s, with De Niro starring in roles that were less dramatic than those in the previous decade. He returned to the screen in 2004, playing a doctor in the
fantasy drama
Godsend. As of 2020, the film is De Niro's poorest-performing work; Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 4% based on 139 critic reviews. He voiced a character in
DreamWorks' animation of
Shark Tale (2004). Most critics were also unimpressed, but it was a high earner at the box office. After co-producing
Stage Beauty (2004), De Niro reprised his role of Jack Byrnes in 2004's
Meet the Fockers, the sequel to
Meet the Parents. In a scathing review of De Niro, the critic from
Slant Magazine wrote "In self-parody mode for the umpteenth time, De Niro mugs for the camera with a series of overblown grimaces and faux-menacing glares."
The Bridge of San Luis Rey, was De Niro's last release of 2004, based on
Thornton Wilder's
novel of the same name. It was also critically panned. In 2005, De Niro starred in the horror
Hide and Seek opposite
Dakota Fanning, playing Dr. David Callaway who leaves the city with his traumatized daughter after the mother's suicide. Although the film was a financial success, some critics thought De Niro had been miscast, and queried his decision to star in a mediocre feature. In 2006, De Niro turned down a role in
The Departed to direct his second film, the
spy thriller The Good Shepherd, a fictional account about the growth of the CIA during its formative years
. The film reunited him onscreen with Joe Pesci, co-star from
Raging Bull,
Goodfellas,
A Bronx Tale,
Casino, among others
. Based on the screenplay by
Eric Roth, the project was personal for De Niro, who was raised during the
Cold War and fascinated by it. Despite starring some of Hollywood's leading actors;
Matt Damon,
Angelina Jolie and
Alec Baldwin, the film garnered a mixed reception. Writing for
The Sydney Morning Herald,
Sandra Hall noted its slow pace, stating "There's a potentially fascinating slice of
American history here, but De Niro has carved it up with an excruciatingly dull knife." The critic from
USA Today found the plot initially hard to follow, but praises De Niro for "creating a stirring personal tale".
The Good Shepherd was nominated for
Best Art Direction at the
79th Academy Awards. Finally in 2006, he voiced the character Emperor Sifrat XVI in
Arthur and the Invisibles. 2007–2016: Further film roles His sole project in 2007 was
Matthew Vaughn's
Stardust, a fantasy adventure, based on
Neil Gaiman's 1999
novel of the same name. He plays Captain Shakespeare, the leader of a ship. The film was generally well received, although one critic from
New York magazine thought De Niro's performance was "god-awful – yet his
gung-ho spirit wins him Brownie points." The following year, he starred in the
police procedural thriller
Righteous Kill opposite Al Pacino, both playing New York City detectives who investigate serial executions of criminals who escaped justice. The film's response was mainly disappointing; Peter Hartlaub of
San Francisco Chronicle thought the story was unoriginal and De Niro lacked energy. The film grossed $78 million from a budget of $60 million. Next, he starred in
What Just Happened (2008), a satirical comedy based on Art Linson's experiences as a producer in Hollywood. The film was screened at the
2008 Cannes Film Festival as an out-of-competition entry.
The Sydney Morning Herald opined that most reviewers gave the film a lukewarm reception because of the character he plays, which is "sympathetic" and quieter than his earlier roles. In 2009, he was cast as Frank Goode in the drama
''Everybody's Fine'', a remake of
Giuseppe Tornatore's Italian film
of the same name. Although the film's response was equally mixed,
The Guardian critic praised De Niro for a "his first decent, watchable performance in quite a while.", 2011|alt=De Niro at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival|left In 2010, he had a minor part as Senator John McLaughlin in the action film
Machete. That same year, he starred in
Stone opposite
Milla Jovovich and Edward Norton, co-star from
The Score. It is a crime drama where De Niro plays a manipulated
parole officer. The film was met with a divided reception;
Toronto Star critic thought De Niro delivered a respectable performance due to Jovovich's support. Another critic, Jesse Cataldo from
Slant Magazine noted the film's restraint and thought De Niro is repeating himself by playing the same basic characters. Next he starred in
Little Fockers (2010), the second sequel to
Meet the Parents and
Meet the Fockers. Despite universally negative reviews from critics, the film was a box office success, grossing over $310 million worldwide. In one review,
The Daily Telegraph wrote "Despite the farcical script, De Niro in particular has his
paterfamilias character sensitively tuned". That year, De Niro was cast in
Edge of Darkness, but he left the project citing creative differences. He was replaced by
Ray Winstone. In 2011, De Niro starred in the Italian comedy ''
Manuale d'amore 3. He also appeared in three other films: Killer Elite, Limitless, and New Year's Eve. Except for Limitless
, which received an approval rating of 69% from Rotten Tomatoes, the other two films were met with mixed-to-negative reviews. De Niro was also appointed president of the jury for the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, making it the second time he has served. Continuing into 2012, he starred in the drama Being Flynn,
based on Another Bullshit Night in Suck City,'' a memoir by
Nick Flynn. It was met with a mixed response; critic
A. O. Scott complimented De Niro's ability for playing an estranged father (opposite
Paul Dano), calling him "unpredictable and subtle", despite an uncertain plot. De Niro also appeared in the thrillers
Red Lights and
Freelancers (both 2012). De Niro made his first appearance in a
David O. Russell film, in the romantic comedy
Silver Linings Playbook (2012), as the father of Pat Solatano (
Bradley Cooper), who is released from a psychiatric hospital and moves back in with his parents to rebuild his life. The film was a critical and commercial success, earning eight
Academy Award nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for De Niro. The film grossed $236 million worldwide. Critics lauded the entire cast;
Variety magazine
Justin Chang noted De Niro's calm performance, writing "it's hard to remember the last time De Niro was this effortlessly endearing and relaxed onscreen." In 2013, he played a one-scene uncredited cameo role in Russell's ten-time Oscar-nominated
American Hustle as mob boss Victor Tellegio. In 2012, De Niro served as an executive producer for the television series
NYC 22. Next, he was cast in 2013's
The Big Wedding,
Killing Season, and
The Family; all three were met with mainly a negative response. His other 2013 release,
Last Vegas, received some respectable reviews. Co-starring
Michael Douglas,
Morgan Freeman,
Kevin Kline and
Mary Steenburgen, the film is about three retirees who travel to
Las Vegas to have a
bachelor party for their last remaining single friend. In a harsh assessment of De Niro's performance, the
A.V. Club critic considered it "arguably the low point of De Niro's career." Shortly afterwards, he starred in
Grudge Match (2013) opposite
Sylvester Stallone, as aging boxers stepping into the
ring for one last match. They had previously worked together in 1997's
Cop Land. That same year he starred in the crime thriller,
The Bag Man. In 2014, De Niro appeared in a documentary about his father, Robert De Niro Sr., titled
Remembering the Artist Robert De Niro Sr. which aired on
HBO. In 2015, he starred in
Nancy Meyers' comedy
The Intern alongside
Anne Hathaway. The latter fared better with critics; Mark Olsen of the
Los Angeles Times cordially remarked "De Niro brings a fresh, relaxed lightness to his performance, tinged with the gruff charm of
Spencer Tracy." His performance won him a nomination from the
Critics Choice Movie Awards for
Best Actor in a Comedy. Also in 2015, he appeared in two short films, Scorsese's
The Audition and
JR's
Ellis. Returning to the heist genre, he starred in
Heist, playing Francis "The Pope" Silva, a gangster casino owner who is targeted by criminals. The film was not a box office success. He starred in the biographical drama
Joy (2015), opposite
Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, about an American inventor
Joy Mangano; it gained generally mixed reviews. In 2016, he co-starred in
Dirty Grandpa, playing a grandfather who goes to
Florida during
spring break with his grandson (
Zac Efron). Upon release, the film received a polarized reception for its reputedly distasteful content, and appeared in several critics' lists of
worst films of 2016. He also appeared in
Hands of Stone (2016)
, a biographical sports drama about the career of Panamanian former
professional boxer Roberto Durán. His last release of the year was
The Comedian, which premiered at the
AFI Fest, a film festival celebrating filmmakers' achievements.
2017–present: Resurgence and Scorsese reunion In 2017, De Niro starred as
Bernie Madoff in
Barry Levinson's HBO film
The Wizard of Lies, a performance which earned him critical praise and a
Primetime Emmy Award nomination for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Television Movie. In 2019, De Niro won acclaim for portraying
Robert Mueller alongside
Alec Baldwin's
Donald Trump in various episodes of
Saturday Night Live, earning him an Emmy nomination for
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He received another
Emmy Award nomination for
Outstanding Limited Series his work as a producer on
Ava DuVernay's acclaimed historical miniseries
When They See Us for
Netflix. In 2019, De Niro returned to the screen by playing talk show host Murray Franklin in
Todd Phillips'
Joker, a possible
origin story for the
Batman character
The Joker (
Joaquin Phoenix). The film was a commercial success, and earned eleven nominations at the Academy Awards. Also that year, De Niro reunited with Scorsese for
The Irishman, based on the 2004 book
I Heard You Paint Houses by
Charles Brandt. It is their ninth feature film together and the first since 1995's
Casino, and co-stars Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel, and Joe Pesci. The film received critical acclaim; Robbie Collin of
The Daily Telegraph, praised De Niro's "sensational" performance and the chemistry between his co-stars, whom he has worked with in earlier films.
Variety magazine critic also noted the chemistry, calling him "superb", despite perceived weaknesses in the film's
special effects. during the
25th Critics' Choice Awards in January 2020 In September 2020, De Niro appeared in
Nancy Meyers' comedy short film
Father of the Bride Part 3(ish). The short co-starred
Diane Keaton,
Steve Martin,
Kieran Culkin,
Martin Short and
Florence Pugh. Also in that year, De Niro appeared in
The Comeback Trail, a crime comedy directed by
George Gallo. De Niro was cast in
James Gray's period drama
Armageddon Time, but he dropped out of the project by the time production began. In January 2021, De Niro signed on for the historical comedy
Amsterdam, playing an army veteran. Released in October 2022, the ensemble includes
Christian Bale,
Margot Robbie,
John David Washington,
Michael Shannon,
Mike Myers,
Timothy Olyphant and
Anya Taylor-Joy. The reviewer from
South China Morning Post thought De Niro "brings just the right gravitas to his decorated general." In August 2022, De Niro signed on to star in the
Warner Bros. mob drama
The Alto Knights, directed by
Barry Levinson. De Niro appeared in
Savage Salvation as
Sheriff Church, which was released on December 2, 2022. In 2023, De Niro played
William King Hale, a
cattleman and perpetrator of the
Osage Indian murders, in
Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Scorsese and adapted from the book of the
same name by
David Grann. He starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and
Lily Gladstone. It was reported that the film's budget of $200 million had prompted Scorsese to seek
Netflix or
Apple TV+ for production and distribution, and in May 2020, Apple TV+ was announced to co-finance and co-distribute the film with
Paramount. De Niro received an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination for the role. Niles Schulz praised the performance as "one of De Niro's best", evoking "a figure of beguiling charm, with a good humor that cloaks bottomless indifference." In 2023, De Niro also appeared in the comedy
About My Father, and in the television series
Nada. On March 1, 2023, it was announced that De Niro will produce and star in the six-episode limited series
Zero Day for Netflix, a conspiracy thriller created by
Eric Newman and
Noah Oppenheim, who will also executive produce along with
Jonathan Glickman. The series premiered in 2025. Another film he starred in,
Ezra, made its premiere at
Toronto International Film Festival 2023 and was acquired by
Bleecker Street for theatrical release in 2024. De Niro said he took interest in the film as it features the complexities of parenting an autistic child; De Niro has an autistic son himself. De Niro was due to receive a leadership award from the
National Association of Broadcasters in 2024, before the honour was withdrawn following De Niro's criticism of Donald Trump outside
the former President's criminal trial in New York. == Reception and legacy ==