Robert De Niro will definitely go down in history as one of the greatest actors of his generation. The dedication that the American actor showed to his roles was absolutely unreal and that was the reason why he rose to such great fame in the industry. However, sometimes that dedication got the better of the actor as he was too engrossed in playing the character that he completely forgot about how he was hurting the people around him.
Also read: Mike Tyson Said Robert De Niro Would Beat Him in a Fight, Why Did the Boxing Phenom Say So?
Carthy Moriarty once revealed in an interview that Robert De Niro allegedly punched her with his full strength while filming for one scene from Raging Bull and did not hold back at all.
Cathy Moriarty complimented Robert De Niro’s dedication to his role in Raging Bull
Raging Bull was based on the real-life story of the boxer, Jake LaMotta, and his rise and fall as a boxer. Robert De Niro played the role of the boxer in the movie and his dedication to the role caught Cathy Moriarty’s attention. The Soapdish actress also had an important role in the movie and portrayed the role of Jake LaMotta’s 2nd wife, Vickie LaMotta. Moriarty talked about De Niro’s dedication to his role in the movie and said,
“On set, he was always in character. He’s probably the most disciplined person I’ve ever met. When we’d drive home from set, he would get out halfway and run behind the car because he was always training!”
Robert De Niro’s portrayal of Jake LaMotta was so brilliant that it even earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor in a leading role.
Cathy Moriarty talked about how the Taxi Driver actor punched her too hard in one scene
Cathy Moriarty talked about how Robert De Niro’s improvisatory methods hurt the actress while filming for Raging Bull and the actor did not even apologize for it. She said,
“There was one scene where he wasn’t supposed to hit me, but then he hit me so hard that you could hear my head crack against the wall. I didn’t see it coming, and didn’t expect it. I almost started to cry and break character, but then I just walked away like nothing happened.”
The Cop Land actress further talked about how De Niro never broke character on set and would just continue about his business even if he had punched someone harder than he should have. However, De Niro did check up on his co-actors the next day though to make sure they were alright. She said, “Maybe the next day, he’d say ‘Are you OK?’ Or he’d laugh at me and go, ‘You can take it.’ And I was like, ‘I can take it, but do I want to take it? No!”
Also read: Robert De Niro Agreed to 2007 Henry Cavill Movie as He Regrets Rejecting $4.5B Johnny Depp Franchise
Despite the painful filming, Cathy Moriarty revealed that she never felt any bad blood towards Robert De Niro or any of her co-workers on the set of Raging Bull. The actress was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Vickie LaMotta in the movie.
Raging Bull is currently streaming on HBO Max.
Source: Yahoo Entertainment
