Burt Reynolds Once Said He ‘Took a Beating’ From Robert De Niro After Telling Him a Bad Joke
Robert De Niro and the late Burt Reynolds had a pretty humorous interaction that almost took a wrong turn. Although De Niro was secretly known for his surprising humor, he wasn’t too receptive at first to a joke the actor told him.
Robert De Niro didn’t appreciate this joke Burt Reynolds made about himself and Joe Pesci
De Niro and Reynolds never really crossed paths in movies despite their long and diverse film careers. But they were very much aware and fans of each other. In an interview with Observer, Reynolds shared how grateful he was that De Niro went to one of his movies for support. And how the Oscar-winner would always end up with the roles that he wanted.
“It’s hard to get the films that Bobby De Niro was offered because I don’t have enough New York in me and I don’t have what he has,” Reynolds said. “He’s very special. And he’s a very kind man. I was surprised how nice he was. He has a sense of humor, which most people don’t think.”
But their senses of humor didn’t click at first after Reynolds told De Niro a joke that the latter didn’t take kindly to.
“I was kidding him and, unfortunately, went over the line as I’ve always done. I said, ‘Will you stop giving Joe Pesci advice?’ I thought he would laugh, and he just looked at me and said, ‘I don’t give him advice.’ I went, ‘Oh, excuse me. I thought you would think that was funny.’ He said, ‘It’s not funny, and I don’t give him advice,’” Reynolds recalled.
The Gunsmoke star was eventually able to win De Niro over. But not without some effort.
“I was just taking a beating for a while, and then I finally, finally made him smile. He’s a tough audience, you know,” he said.
Burt Reynolds turned down a role in ‘Taxi Driver’
Reynolds was known for turning down roles that made major stars out of other actors. He famously rejected the part of Han Solo for instance in Star Wars. He also missed out on lead roles in movies like James Bond, Die Hard, and The Godfather. A classic De Niro character is another role that could’ve gone to Reynolds.
Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver was one of the vehicles that turned De Niro into a mega-star. But originally, the lead role was Reynolds’ to grab. Turning the film down was a decision that always bothered him. According to Yahoo, he admitted that he felt doing so wasn’t the smartest decision. And he was full of regret about it.
Burt Reynolds once named the actor he was trying to be
As much as he might’ve admired De Niro, there was only one other actor that Reynolds admitted he wanted to be like. Back in his time, many couldn’t help draw comparisons between Reynolds and late actor Marlon Brando. Reynolds remembered that a common criticism in the past was that he was perhaps trying to be too much like Brando. But to the Boogie Nights star, the criticism was a compliment.
“I said, ‘Would you rather me be like Arnold Stang? What do you want? I picked out the greatest actor in the world to be like. It’s not my fault that I resemble him,’” Reynolds said.
He even joked about the similarities to Brando’s sister Jocelyn Brando.
“I knew his sister Jocelyn really well,” Reynolds said. “And she said, ‘Marlon is so curious about you. He asked everything about you.’ And I said, ‘I wonder why.’ And she said, ‘Because you really look like him.’ I said, ‘No, I don’t. He’s fat.’ I did everything I could to make Jocelyn get mad and have fun with me. We had fun, but she didn’t get mad. She said, ‘People say things about him because they’re jealous.’ And I said, ‘You’re right, I am jealous. He’s the best actor there is.’”
