Robert De Niro on meeting Noel Gallagher and if he's an Oasis fan now

NME

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.

Transcript

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.

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