Facial shapes
De Niro's face is so painfully narrow and gaunt next to Boulting's wide countenance. Bad casting.
shareThalburg was very thin, so Deniro was right for the part.
share
MovieChat Forums > The Last Tycoon (1976) Discussion > Facial shapes
I don't get why that's bad casting. Did you read someplace where people cast in movies should all have the same shaped faces?
shareDe Niro actually lost weight for this movie. He's supposed to look sickly because Monroe's health isn't good.
However, he's still super hot so that didn't really work. Monroe's supposed to be working himself to death, but we never see it, we never feel it.
I haven't yet been able to find this version available to me, but I have watched a few clips. De Niro looks amazing. I almost didn't recognise him.
In the 9-part Amazon remake, the actor who plays Monroe does a good job of making us feel he's working himself to death -- not by his appearance but by his behaviour. Perhaps it's similar in this version, although you've said it isn't shown in a way you can see and feel.
Maybe I should check that out.
shareIt's not bad casting. Kazan put a lot of thought into the way he filmed De Niro in order to try to achieve the particular effect he wanted. In a 1976 interview with the American Film Institute, he said:
"In The Last Tycoon, I've tried to make DeNiro look like a very sensitive person. You've seen what he usually plays. I used a still camera, and I found out that when I got up high, his cheeks sunk in a little bit, and he looked more drawn, more ascetic. That's something good for me to know. So I try in certain scenes to go up a little bit higher."
Maybe it is also worth pointing out that De Niro was Kazan's own choice for the role of Monroe Stahr. Kazan personally introduced him to the film's producer, Sam Spiegel. share