by Paul Fischer

He is one of America's great actors, and on screen is as intense and ferocious a performer as exists in Hollywood. There's only one Robert De Niro. But off screen, he remains the curious antithesis of his persona. Shy, awkward, shunning publicity, De Niro rarely gives interviews, and when he does, his co-stars or director flanks him. He remains a man of few words, and interviewing him is not the easiest of tasks, as Paul Fischer recently discovered in New York when he spoke to the shy Oscar winning giant about his latest film, 15 Minutes. In 15 Minutes, De Niro plays superstar Homicide Detective Eddie Flemming, who allows a young, talented Fire Department Arson Investigator, Jordy Warsaw (Ed Burns), to team up with him in order to track down a pair of Eastern European killers on a rampage through the city. Ferocious, unpredictable and clever, the immigrants quickly learn how to use the celebrity of their pursuers to spin their own stardom into an explosion of media and judicial madness.

CrankyCritic: You're known as actor who intensely prepares for a role. What did you do to prepare to play this character?
Robert De Niro: We had a technical guy on the set called Steve Davis, who was very helpful with everything and was there all the time, so he was the main person to help me.

CrankyCritic: Does doing a movie like this alter your perceptions of the media? Does it make you feel differently at all about the way the media operates?
Robert De Niro: No, I have my own perceptions of the media.
CrankyCritic: Can you elaborate?
Robert De Niro: It is what it is. The media's like a big dinosaur with a tail that swings back and forth and it indiscriminately knocks things over, both good and bad, and that's the freedom of the press, so what are you going to do?

CrankyCritic: What attracted you to this script?
Robert De Niro: John [Hertzfield, director] and I spoke about it. There were things that I wasn't sure about, this and that, but I felt that whatever it was going to be, it would be interesting and I'm in. He's also very agreeable and amenable to doing things that we discussed and a lot of directors won't do that. They get stuck with something and he'd be willing to try anything.

CrankyCritic: When you've been a victim of tabloid journalism yourself, what has been your reaction? Gone crazy?
Robert De Niro: No, I sued once in France where they wrote stuff, which you've heard before, but it was all nonsense, because they have some privacy law, which doesn't mean anything. They pay the fine and they still sell the photos, or whatever.
CrankyCritic: Did you get the money out or them or an apology?
Robert De Niro: I forget.
CrankyCritic: But you haven't been back to France since, right?
Robert De Niro: No, I go back. It wasn't France. It was the judge; he was an idiot.