10 Things You Didn't Know About Cape Fear
5. Cady's Southern Accent Gave Scorsese The Creeps
Keeping his accent from a previous role, De Niro's choice for Cady's ominous Southern drawl suited the role so much that Scorsese himself became concerned over the creepiness of the character - learning first hand what a terrifying encounter with the criminal would be like.
De Niro honed his accent choice by taking his script in one hand and a tape recorder in the other, taking himself to the deep South of America to ask locals to read out his lines so he could record them and practise with genuine examples.
After all this effort, he used the voice to leave messages on Scorsese's answer machine whilst in character as Cady, just to freak him out a bit. Oh, and earn an Oscar nomination, but the phone calls are definitely the best thing to come out of it.