A LEGEND LOOKS AHEAD

ROBERT DE NIRO OPENS UP ABOUT HIS UNPARALLELED CAREER, RAISING ADORABLE' BABY DAUGHTER GIA AND WHAT COMES NEXT

- ERIC ANDERSSON

During the six decades he’s spent in front of the camera, Robert De Niro has earned a reputation for playing no-nonsense tough guys to perfection. He’s been magnetically menacing in films from Mean Streets and Taxi Driver to his most recent chilling turn in Killers of the Flower Moon (earning him his ninth Oscar nomination). In-person, De Niro is thoughtful and funny as he talks about his career and family, but he’s decidedly no-nonsense too. He’ll answer a question with one wry word, and he’s not shy about making a wisecrack to shut down a query. “If it’s a therapy session, that’s one thing,” he says by way of avoiding a follow-up about his childhood during a January interview at the Greenwich Hotel, where he has offices in New York City. “This is not.”

Analyze this? Nope. De Niro’s not looking in the rearview mirror because he has his eyes fixed on the road ahead. “As things come, you don’t expect them,” he says. “You got to be ready. I’m ready to take whatever life gives me.” That philosophy has sustained his storied career, which includes two Oscar wins (for The Godfather Part II and Raging Bull), 10 feature films with friend and director Martin Scorsese and dozens of films that showcase his dramatic and comedic range, from Goodfellas to Meet the Parents. (Twenty-four years later, fans still approach him to quote his famous taunt to Ben Stiller, “I will bring you down, baby. I will bring you down to Chinatown.”)