Robert De Niro tells ‘TODAY’ why he spoke out at NYC Trump trial: ‘We’re in a very bad situation’
Legendary actor Robert De Niro explained why he spoke out against former President Trump during the wind down of Trump’s New York hush money trial last week.
Two famous Hollywood icons are worried about the looming presidential election and Donald Trump's chances to still win.
Actor Robert De Niro and director Spike Lee appeared with director Francis Ford Coppola at Monday’s New York premiere of his latest film, "Megalopolis." Deadline reported on how they hosted a Q&A before the screening where De Niro, a well known critic of Trump, drew parallels between the themes of Coppola’s futuristic epic and the current election.
"I’m worried," De Niro said at the Q&A session, "I see the things in Francis’ film about that, the parallels and so on. To me, it’s not over ’till it’s over and we have to go at this wholeheartedly to beat the Republicans – those Republicans, they’re not real Republicans – and beat Trump. It’s that simple. We cannot have that type of person. Everybody has to get out there and vote."
Earlier, De Niro had been mocking Trump, imploring them to "Just imagine Donald Trump directing this film. It’ll never go anywhere, from total craziness. He cannot do anything. He cannot hold anything together … He wants to destroy the country. And he could not do this movie. He could not do anything that has a structure."
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"As my sister says, forward not backward," Lee replied, alluding to Harris and to De Niro’s concerns about the election. "It’s simple: Register to vote and show up. …. This election is going to be very, very close. I’m a big sports fan and, the expression you used, it’s not over ’till it’s over. We cannot just think that the game is over when it’s not."
The same outlet noted that Coppola interjected at this point to note he "deliberately" cast performers who "are voting another way."
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"He didn’t name names, but one prominent Trump advocate, Jon Voight, plays a prominent role in the film. The filmmaker also expressed hope that ‘we can disagree’ on a film set but that humanity can prevail (another theme of the film)," Deadline’s business editor Dade Hayes wrote.
Hollywood icons Robert De Niro and Spike Lee are concerned about just how close the 2024 election is and Donald Trump's chances for winning. ((Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival))
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Coppola has mentioned bipartisan intentions in this film before, specifically when he was asked by Rolling Stone in August about casting Voight as a character the interviewer said resembles Trump himself.
Coppola offered a candid response, "What I didn’t want to happen is that we’re deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers. The cast features people who were canceled at one point or another. There were people who are archconservatives and others who are extremely politically progressive. But we were all working on one film together. That was interesting, I thought."
Regarding the movie "Megalopolis," the Internet Movie Database summarized the film as being one about how the city of New Rome is the main conflict between Cesar Catilina, a brilliant artist in favor of a utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them is Julia Cicero, her loyalty divided between her father and her beloved."
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