David Letterman, December 17, 2010. Both Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro were on the show, and in all honesty, the interview will go down as an instant classic, but in my opinion for all the wrong reasons.
Dustin Hoffman has been on Letterman’s late show many times before, but Robert De Niro had never been on the talk show, however he has appeared on many other talk shows in the past. They both came out onto the stage with a swagger, that you would just expect from two huge Hollywood actors, they sat down to rapturous applause, however, you could tell that there was a weird feeling in the studio.
Robert De Niro was acting very strange, and almost immediately, Letterman picked up on this. David tried talking to Robert, but De Niro, just would not look at Letterman, and kept on looking at Hoffman, as if for help. Dustin stepped up and called himself the De Niro Whisperer; however both Hoffman and De Niro were both putting on an act of “we are way to cool to be here on this show”
As the interview went on, you could feel a tension building between Letterman and De Niro and as much as Letterman tried, he just could not get De Niro to speak to him, De Niro instead opted to speak through Hoffman. When De Niro did speak, he seemed put out, and was very short and to the point, and no time, did he ever look at David Letterman. The whole interview was very strange, with neither one of them, looking like they wanted to be there, which is strange seeing as their new movie “Little Fockers” is due to be released on Christmas Day.
Without a doubt, I believe this has been one of Letterman’s hardest interviews. He tried and tried to coax more out of both Hoffman and De Niro, but he was clutching at straws, it took all 28 years of experience for him to get what he got. While Hoffman did seem to want to talk more, even he also seemed like he wanted to be somewhere else.
As hard as it was to watch, it was also very funny at the same time. The awkwardness of the whole situation was funny, and the audience picked up on this too, to the point of laughing at every single motion, facial expression or word that De Niro said.
I do not know if there is a history between Robert and Letterman, but I am pretty sure De Niro will not be back on the lateshow anytime soon, which is a shame because he is a great person and actor, but I just cannot believe how they both behaved while on the show.
It will be talked about and laughed at for a while and I am sure it will be over the news and papers tomorrow, it was certainly an interview to remember, and will not be one, that Letterman forgets anytime soon.
