This Infographic Nails Just When Robert De Niro Stopped Caring

The continuing decline of Robert De Niro’s acting career is among the most lamentable in all of cinema.

From ‘Taxi Driver’ and 'Raging Bull’ to making jokes about horse penises in 'Dirty Grandpa’, it’s become a seriously sad state of affairs for the former titan of the silver screen.

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And this infographic shows precisely the point that De Niro stopped caring with a surgical but depressing accuracy.

It was in 2002, when he hit the age of 59.

Illustrator James Chapman has brought together the scores of his movies from the reviews aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

'Analyse That’, the mafia psych-comedy from 2002, written and directed by Harold Ramis and co-starring Bully Crystal, appears to mark the beginning of the end.

Then there’s regrettable animation 'Shark Tale’, mirthless sequel 'Meet The Fockers’ and finally, the horrifying 'Dirty Grandpa’ in which he debased himself with Zac Efron and lasciviously squirted sunblock onto the breasts of Aubrey Plaza.

The graphic lands at an apt time.

De Niro’s 'Goodfellas’ and 'Cape Fear’ co-star Illeana Douglas was recently asked during an interview on Bret Easton Ellis’s podcast why his work has taken such a dive in quality, offering rumours that De Niro will simply do any role as long as there’s money in it.

Douglas was diplomatic, blaming the industry for its part in his decline.

“I think that, and I can only comment as an outsider and having worked with him on a film like Goodfellas, the environment that was created to play and to make a work of art, that no longer exists,” she said.

“You know, you’re talking about an environment where Marty [Scorsese] made crew members remove their watches. Where, on the set of Cape Fear, De Niro caught somebody looking at their watch and the person is yelled at, because it was like ‘we are making art’.

“And it must be very challenging to be in an environment where it’s like ‘Yeah we have an hour, let’s get this shot, let’s get this shot’, and so if nobody else cares, why should you care?

“And I understand what you mean, it’s as if we’re looking at him for some great example of what he was and I still believe it’s there, I still believe it’s in all of these great actors, but you have to create the environment for them.”

Image credits: Pathe/@chapmangamo