Night and the City (1992 film) De Niro's work as "more like a riff on Rupert Pupkin, the goofy talk show fan he played in Scorsese's "The King of Comedy"". Ebert and Howe both agreed, however, that Alan King's performance was fantastic. Owen Gleiberman concurred in his review, but he sided with Ebert regarding De Niro, concluding, "the actor who once seemed the heir to Brando, Clift, and, yes, Widmark — the actor who once got so far inside his roles that he just about detonated the screen — now plays characters who don't seem to have any inner life at all." David Ansen praised the
The Irishman (2019 film) were revealed to have joined the cast. Sebastian Maniscalco was revealed as being a part of the cast later. In July 2017, Zack Sharf reported that the film's script was adapted by Steven Zaillian to be presented as a series of flashbacks of an older lead character, Frank Sheeran portrayed by Robert De Niro, depicted as recollecting his many criminal activities over several decades: ""The Irishman" will include flashbacks that span decades, and De Niro is set to play Sheeran in all of them. He'll appear as young as 30 years old." Filming was set to start in August 2017,