Ranking De Niro's Performances In Scorsese Films

Depending on your opinion of the Fockers films, De Niro and laughs may not be everyone’s idea of a good match. Luckily, The King Of Comedy is no lighthearted romp, and Rupert Pupkin is one of the most disturbing creations in his oeuvre. A passion project for the actor, he had to talk Scorsese into making the film - evidently this was the right move, as the director later described it as his longtime muse’s finest performance in front of his camera.

De Niro’s unearned confidence as Pupkin allows the film to veer wildly between funny and tragic. He lives in his own head, acting out charming dialogues with his favourite celebrities. He’s played for laughs at times, but it’s never unkind. De Niro understands this kind of obsessive fantasist. He can empathise with that desperate longing for recognition and fulfilment, and turns Pupkin, who could so easily be a cartoon, a stereotype of a nutter, into a relatable figure.

Indeed as time goes on this has become one of his most influential roles - Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler and Joaquin Phoenix in Joker are two examples of actors who’ve certainly been studying their mid-period Scorsese. De Niro hasn’t returned to a similar role since -to inhabit so fully such a beaten down, broken individual may just have taken a significant toll.