NEW YORK -- In the new comedy Analyze This, a mobster, played by Robert De Niro, has a nervous breakdown and goes to see a reluctant psychiatrist played by Billy Crystal.

The idea sounds simple enough, but the movie could just as well have been called Analyze This Script, Make Some Notes and Give It Back to Me Next Week for all the fits, starts and rewrites it went through before finally making it to the big screen, says Crystal.

The film opens in Calgary on Friday.

De Niro plays Mafia boss Paul Vitti, a man having problems with his job.

The timing is terrible, because Vitti has to assume the role of leader of his crime family.

Panic attacks and crying jags aren't seen as signs of strength among mob types.

Crystal is Ben Sobel, a suburban New York shrink who is concentrating on his upcoming marriage to his news reporter fiancee (Lisa Kudrow). When Vitti forces his way onto Sobel's patient list, all heck busts loose.

Speaking to reporters at a Manhattan hotel, Crystal says he fell in love with the premise of Analyze This, but the screenplay just wasn't working.

"The script wasn't good, but the idea was great. So we did a couple of versions."

The rewrites didn't tickle Crystal's fancy either, so he called in screenwriting pal Peter Tolan to do some heavy tweaking.

Then came the search for a suitable actor to play the role of the mobster.

"Paula (Weinstein, producer) said, 'Well, who do you think could play Paul?' And I said, 'Robert De Niro.' And she said, 'Oh God, do you think he would do it?'

"And I said, 'I think he should do this, because this is great for him.' "

Convincing De Niro it was great for him was another matter. Having made a career out of playing hard-nosed crime bosses, De Niro was reluctant, to say the least, to do a role that might see him parodying himself.

But De Niro liked the script, and all the pieces were in place.

The cast went to New York for rehearsals ... and then Crystal started to get cold feet.

"Now we're 10 days from shooting and I'm thinking I may have to not do the movie. I don't like what it's feeling like," he says.

So the producers sat down with Crystal and director Harold Ramis, the SCTV alumnus who has helmed features such as Caddyshack and Groundhog Day. Yet another version of the script was hammered out, and Kudrow's character was created on the spot (she was cast after shooting began.) Only then did the cameras begin rolling.

No matter how well the film does financially, Crystal says doing a film with De Niro

was almost reward enough for all his troubles -- although when you're working opposite one of the world's top actors, the bar gets raised several notches.

"Our chemistry was really good together. It felt really nice, an unusual pairing," he says.

"But when Robert De Niro says 'yes' (to a movie), you'd better be on your game to act with him."


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