It looks as though De Niro is more keen than ever to work with Scorsese. Their partnership took a 20-year break after “Casino” in 1995, but they finally re-teamed on “The Irishman” (2019) and “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2023).
In a new interview with GQ, tied to the Tribeca Festival, De Niro says he expects to make “at least one more” film with Scorsese. He didn’t announce a specific project, but he clearly signaled that he is open to (and anticipating) another collaboration.
Now, Scorsese has shot “What Happens at Night”, due for release sometime next year, and he has a number of other projects in the works, including “Life of Jesus”, “Sinatra”, “Home”, “Devil in the White City”, and “Midnight Vendetta”.
Scorsese seems to bring out the best in De Niro — the actor’s turns in “The Irishman” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” have been among his best modern performances — so there is clearly still a special spark between the two.
The Scorsese/De Niro partnership, which has resulted in ten films so far, is right up there with the greatest director-actor duos in cinema history — and may even be the best one. Other contenders would include Hitchcock/Stewart, Fellini/Mastroianni, Ford/Wayne, Bergman/Ullmann, Herzog/Kinski, and Kurosawa/Mifune.
During that 24-year break in which Scorsese and De Niro did not collaborate on a film, Scorsese found another acting muse: Leonardo DiCaprio. The upcoming “What Happens at Night” will be their eighth film together.
That said, despite the many great films produced through the DiCaprio partnership, Scorsese and De Niro still tower above it, with classic after classic: “Goodfellas”, “Mean Streets”, “Taxi Driver”, “Raging Bull”, “Casino”, and “The King of Comedy”.