Dispatches From 15th Annual Tribeca Film Festival: Opening Day
Robert DeNiro is a rock star. But that might not be apparent if you've ever seen him speak in public. At the luncheon launch of the 15th Annual Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday in a private second-floor room at Thalassa on Franklin Street, the spry seventy-two-year-old dutifully took the podium like a child heading for a vaccination. He notoriously despises public speaking. Even his smallest speeches are meticulously scripted – and if he ad libs, well, he can get into trouble. But that New Yorker on the stage, looking anywhere but out directly into the audience (lacking the populist zeal of a Bernie Sanders), is no more the real Robert DeNiro than Travis Bickle or Papa Focker. Bob, or Bobby, is simply not into selling himself. At the microphone he describes the festival in two words, "Jane Rosenthal," and hands the microphone to his long-time producing and festival partner.
