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Without any sign of a gun to his head, the famously publicity-shy actor did his best yesterday. At a press conference promoting the military drama Men Of Honor, the two-time Oscar winner wore a bemused smile and answered every question put to him. Except whenever the opportunity arose not to, such as saying he believed somebody else had already answered whatever.
May we remind you, his boyhood nickname was Bobby Milk (because of his pallor), not Bobby Chatterbox.
Men Of Honor is based on the life of Carl Brashear, a Kentucky sharecropper's son who joined the U.S. Navy in 1948, a year before it was desegregated, and became its first black deep sea diver. The film opens in theatres Nov. 10. De Niro plays Billy Sunday, a ruthless and racist dive trainer who does all he can to force Brashear out, even putting him in harm's way.
No hesitation
Brashear, who is now 69 and has one leg, actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., who plays him, director George Tillman, Jr. and producer Robert Teitel did interviews all yesterday and will continue today.
That De Niro consented only to the press conference should not imply he's less than passionate about the film, which he considered producing himself several years ago. At age 57 and with nearly 70 movies to his credit, he didn't hesitate to put his faith in the relatively green team of Tillman, 31, and producer Teitel, 32, college pals for whom this is only their second feature.
De Niro saw Soul Food, their $7-million 1998 debut. "It had a lot of heart and this movie needed heart. So it was simple, a simple choice," he said.
In fact, in an interview earlier yesterday, Gooding told The Sun he quit the project early on, angry that its modest, US$32-million budget demanded he take a pay cut, and it was De Niro who convinced him to return.
"He called me up and cussed me out for that and he made a lot of sense. He said, 'You don't fight racism this way,' and he was right. You make the movie and you show them," said Gooding, 32, an Oscar winner himself for 1996's Jerry Maguire.
De Niro simply loathes talking about acting as much as he loves doing it. Asked what the dark, intense characters he's played have left him with, "Well, I don't know. That, that, (moan)," was his initial response.
"A whole lotta money!" Gooding cracked, offering rescue.
But De Niro gathered himself and was unusually expansive. Expressing himself through characters is the central motivation for his career, he said. Playing someone as hate-filled as Billy Sunday may be "unsavoury in the sense that you know you have to say these things," but holding back wouldn't have been true to the part. Sometimes, he feels relief when a dark role is done.
"Those feelings, you don't feel those things, but you understand them. You can go into an area where you normally wouldn't go into because you just wouldn't. But when you play a part, you have to go there, so you find things in yourself to go there. And that's what acting is," he said.
Choked up
Gooding got choked up when he talked about the "emotional edge" he was on during filming.
"It was like a volcano. Because we were so proud of this man," he said, looking at Brashear seated beside him.
When a black TV reporter announced she'd left the movie walking a little taller and feeling a little prouder, Gooding quipped, "And you look a little better."
In The Sun's interview earlier, Gooding described De Niro as "very intense" on set.
"He's focused. Just focused. He doesn't hold conversations. He says his lines, goes to his trailer."
And off set?
"Oh, are you kidding?" Gooding said, erupting with laughter. "I'm not allowed in a couple of bars in Portland, Oregon, anymore. I didn't think I could still breakdance."