Ben Stiller & David O. Russell Exchange On-Set “‘Raging Bull’-Level” & “De Niro-ism” Stories At Tribeca Film Festival

Ben Stiller and David O. Russell attend the "Silver Linings Playbook" screening during the 2024 Tribeca Festival Getty

Tribeca Film Festival‘s ode to its 2x Oscar winning co-founder Robert De Niro –De Niro Con– continued Friday night with a screening of Silver Linings Playbook with that pic’s filmmaker David O. Russell and Ben Stiller sharing their candid experiences working with the Stella Adler trained actor. Or as Stiller, who worked with De Niro in the Meet the Parents franchise coined ‘De Niro-isms.’

“I’ll never forget the day of the big explosion when it was Jennifer vs. Bob with Bradley in the middle. It was a big scene and I was blocking it because Bob was unexpectedly a little late, which is not like him. So, I started to do this scene because everybody was there. Bob walked in and carried the energy of the scene: He yelled at me! He scared me!” recounted Russell.

“He said, ‘Hey this is a serious scene! This is a seven-page scene! No joking around!’ I said, ‘Jesus, Bob, I’m just blocking the scene.’ He was preparing himself to be that enraged. That was Raging Bull level.”

Stiller also had an interlude: “The first time I did a scene with Bob in Meet the Parents, it was the first time my character was meeting him, and he did something, and I was so nervous and he did this little ‘De Niro-ism’ and I just cracked up in his face, which is the last thing in the world I wanted to do in front of Robert De Niro for a scene I’m doing with him. But he has that effect on people – because he’s Robert De Niro.”

Silver Linings Playbook follows Pat Solatano who is trying to get his life back together after time in a mental institution; his ultimate goal to reunite with his wife. He winds up living with his parents (De Niro, Jacki Weaver), however, he meets Tiffany, who offers to help him reconnect with his wife, if he will do something very important for her in exchange. The movie won a Best Actress Oscar for Lawrence, and also a Best Picture nomination, director nom for Russell and supporting actor nod for De Niro among its overall eight noms. Released in 2012, the movie made over $236M worldwide.

Russell was given the pic’s source material, a Matthew Quick novel, by the late Sydney Pollack. The Tootsie filmmaker felt that Russell had the chops to deliver both the comedy and gravitas required for a big screen adaptation. Cooper, who had just lost his father at the time, gravitated toward the story and found an on-set dad in De Niro, while Lawrence, who had not even broken out in Hunger Games yet wowed in her raw and intense taped audition. Russell said that the studio was ready to go with another actress, but he convinced them at the last minute to roll the dice on Lawrence.

Russell added about working with De Niro: “He was very meticulous in going over the script with us. He made us go over the entire script with the cast together. There were things that he asked about, things that he would change and would fix. He memorized all of his dialogue.”

The secret in the on-set chemistry per the 5x Oscar nominated filmmaker, was “you just wanted people to stop acting, so you were aiming for non-acting, you were aiming for ‘cut the bullshit’ and be real.”