Quentin Tarantino has been blessed to direct some of the greatest actors in Hollywood history. His culturally provocative, yet groundbreaking films feature dynamic characters in his screenplays, which influential stars such as John Travolta, Harvey Keitel, and Leonardo DiCaprio, among others, bring their full charisma to breathe true life on the screen. Of all the legends that ever stepped foot on a Tarantino set, however, Robert De Niro made the biggest impression on the iconic filmmaker.
The two-time Oscar winner of The Godfather Part II and Raging Bull only collaborated with the Pulp Fiction director on one occasion, with the 1997 blaxploitation homage, Jackie Brown. During the promotional tour for the film, Tarantino sat down with Charlie Rose, where he highlighted De Niro “as possibly the greatest actor of his generation.” Jackie Brown had no shortage of acting legends in its ensemble, including Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, and Robert Forester. While De Niro was cast in the less-than-extravagant role of small-time con man Louis Gara, his dedication to embodying a low-level felon ensures that his performance does not go unnoticed.
Robert De Niro Finds the Unnoticed Subtleties in Every Character He Plays
Since his breakout during the New Hollywood era of the ‘70s, De Niro has been consistent in taking a calculated approach to every role he is cast in. As Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, De Niro portrayed a disturbed Vietnam War veteran living a heroic fantasy mindset devoid of the unstable reality of his mental state. In Midnight Run, De Niro leaned on the content nature of bounty hunter life as Jack Walsh, before his latest job forces him to reconcile with his past. Though De Niro is primarily associated with crime dramas and the occasional comedic turn, every project requires the legendary actor to mold his entire being into the character on the page. Rarely does he deliver a loud, overly grand performance like his peers, Al Pacino and Gene Hackman. De Niro’s genius is simply finding the littlest subtleties in a character that comes across as real as possible.
Tarantino’s praise of De Niro extends beyond his status as an all-time great actor. In the Rose interview, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director compares character actors in general to De Niro’s self-discipline, which keeps him from going outside the boundaries of any role he inhabits. “Some acting people suggest something to the effect of ‘there’s a zillion choices out there and any one of them is possible and any one of them is great.’ I don’t believe that at all,” Tarantino said. “If you’re really in character, you only have a few choices. If something weird were to happen at this table right now, there’s not a zillion ways Charlie Rose is going to react; there’s probably about four ways. De Niro has that down”. By viewing his work as Louis in Jackie Brown, De Niro makes minimalist choices in the characterization based on what the scenes call for and establishes the various relationships among his co-stars.
Robert De Niro Succeeds at Playing a Burned Out Con Man in ‘Jackie Brown’
On the surface level, Jackie Brown is truly Pam Grier’s star vehicle as a tribute to the blaxploitation genre that she helped to define. With so many colorful supporting players between Jackson’s unpredictable arms dealer Ordell Robbie and Forester’s world-weary bail bondsman Max Cherry, it is quite amazing to see De Niro take on a part far less electric than his incredibly dark roles from Cape Fear and Goodfellas. Ironically, De Niro pursued the Max role before Tarantino turned him on to Louis. For a criminal playing the second antagonist alongside Jackson, De Niro’s Louis is portrayed as a passive-aggressive con with broken confidence due to his time behind bars.
What makes De Niro stand out in Jackie Brown’s A-list cast is how his performance as Louis is more driven by stillness than by delivering Tarantino’s snappy dialogue. A good example of how Louis is a metaphorical old car running on empty is during his interactions with Ordell’s mistress, Melanie (Bridget Fonda). While they engage in plenty of pot smoking and unsentimental sex, Melanie clearly looks down on Louis because she senses his insecurity. In response, Louis simply settles for being a lowlife, which De Niro establishes through the burned-out con man’s hunched body, inaudible speech patterns, and rarely making eye contact. The actor makes Louis credible in the eyes of the audience because he’s completely reined in the in-your-face attitude that he’s been known to play for decades.
Tarantino’s bold statement about De Niro was not simple praise to hype up a movie and the cast in it. For a filmmaker who became a standout voice for ‘90s cinema, Tarantino views De Niro as the gold standard for every actor who follows in his footsteps. This is why iconic directors such as Martin Scorsese and David O. Russell frequently cast De Niro in their seminal films. He captures every moment with a grounded reality that never truly feels like acting but instead a living truth.
Jackie Brown is streaming on Pluto TV in the US.
- Release Date
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December 25, 1997
- Runtime
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154 minutes
- Producers
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Bob Weinstein, Elmore Leonard, Harvey Weinstein
