The King of Comedy (film) Reagan administration in contrast to other films made during the administration's early years (although the script was written well before Reagan's election, and shooting began less than five months after Reagan took office). "At a time when the film world piles on simple-minded sentiment in thick gooey gobs, a picture like "The King of Comedy" appears a frontal assault. The triumph of the 'little guy' is revealed to be nothing more than lumpen neo-Fascist blood lust." Pauline Kael of "The New Yorker" was one of the critics who disliked the film, describing the character of Rupert Pupkin as "Jake LaMotta
Robert De Niro the audience to a standing ovation with this denunciation of President Trump: A day later, in front of a crowd in Toronto, he apologized to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for President Trump's "idiotic behavior". De Niro was raised by an atheist mother and a lapsed Catholic father who left the Catholic Church at age 12. His grandparents had him secretly baptized Catholic, and his grandmother was the main advocate of Catholicism in the family. He refuses to be asked about religion in interviews. When asked why he would not play Jesus Christ in Martin Scorsese's 1988 film "The Last