Describe Robert De Niro in one word
Photo: Universal Pictures
He Requested A Real Bullet Be Placed In The Russian Roulette Gun In ‘The Deer Hunter’
He Requested A Real Bullet Be Placed In The Russian Roulette Gun In ‘The Deer Hunter’
Photo: Universal Pictures
While filming one of the most intense scenes in one of the most intense films ever (The Deer Hunter), De Niro heightened the tension on set when he insisted there be a live bullet in the gun he and his fellow actors were using to play Russian roulette. According to people who worked on the set, the bullet was removed prior to filming any shots were the trigger was pulled. This is a story that could only have happened in the 1970s, and it is amazing and frightening. Robert De Niro, you are a beautiful maniac.
He Financed A Super Weird Video Game Designed To Compete With Myst
He Financed A Super Weird Video Game Designed To Compete With Myst
Photo: Warner Bros.
By the time the ’90s rolled around, De Niro could do whatever he wanted. He’d made at least five classic films, and his production company, Tribeca, was super successful. So he decided to do what anyone would in such circumstances, finance a video game harnessing the combined talents of Stereocopic 3D champion Buzz Hays, Jim Belushi, and Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith.
According to Hays, the goal to was make a weirder version of Myst, which is a noble pursuit if ever there were one. Says Hays, “Myst had already had its day in the sun. It was still, in many peoples’ eyes, the finest video game ever to be created. So we decided to try and do a more irreverent version of that.”
Unfortunately, the game was dead in the water before it was released, but no one seems too broken up about the truly weird experience. “For us it was just this funny nostalgic time when we got to do this crazy thing in this tiny warehouse in San Francisco,” said Hays.
“We had such a good time making this thing that at the end of the day, it kind of didn’t matter whether people loved it or not.”
