Robert De Niro Admits He Knew This Movie Was a “Mistake” From Day One

Robert De Niro has admitted that he realized a film he worked on in the 1970s was a “mistake” almost from the start.

Speaking to The New York Times, De Niro reflected on his experience filming Bernardo Bertolucci’s epic historical drama, 1900.

“I’m older now, and I’m more experienced, so I don’t get thrown by the directors that I’ve worked with. Rarely happens. And I’m certainly not a person that feels precious about myself — it’s just common sense. But when I was younger, I was a little more nervous about stuff. With Bernardo, sometimes he would be — I felt that he was European, they make certain demands,” De Niro said.

The actor recalled a moment on the first day of shooting that made him realize the project might not succeed. “In 1900, we shot the old stuff on the first day, and I realised there that that was a mistake — it just wouldn’t work, nobody was into it,” he explained.

De Niro admitted he felt uncertain but didn’t voice his concerns at the time. “I didn’t know what I was doing sitting in another country with this director who I like very much, but it was like, ‘Where are we?’ If I had thought about it more, I would have said, ‘Can we not do this scene later, not the first day?’ I was sensible enough to know you don’t do things so out of order. But I went along with it, I remember that, and it just didn’t work.”

1900 (Italian: Novecento, “Twentieth Century”) was released in 1976 and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

The film features an international cast including Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Donald Sutherland, Burt Lancaster, and others. It tells the story of two men, Alfredo Berlinghieri (De Niro) and Olmo Dalcò (Depardieu), and their lives in Italy during the political conflicts between fascism and communism in the early 20th century.

Known for its epic length of 317 minutes, 1900 was often split into two parts in many countries. The United States received a shorter, edited version released by Paramount on October 7, 1977.

Despite its ambition and star-studded cast, the film received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 52% rating based on 23 reviews, while Metacritic assigned it a score of 70 out of 100, indicating generally favorable reviews.

Critics were divided. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film, “an epic only by virtue of its length,” suggesting that its story failed to engage throughout its runtime. However, the film has since become regarded as a cult classic and has been restored for special screenings, including a 2017 presentation at the Venice International Film Festival.

1900 has also been recognized by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage as one of 100 films that significantly impacted the country’s cultural memory between 1942 and 1978. Despite De Niro’s early doubts, the film remains a notable part of cinematic history.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!