The King of Comedy (film) without fists". She went on to write that "De Niro in disguise denies his characters a soul. De Niro's 'bravura' acting in "Mean Streets, Taxi Driver" and "New York, New York" collapsed into 'anti-acting' after he started turning himself into repugnant flesh eggies of soulless characters ... Pupkin is a nothing." Scorsese says that "people were confused with "King of Comedy" and saw Bob as some sort of mannequin". Scorsese has called De Niro's role as Rupert Pupkin his favorite of all their collaborations. Sandra Bernhard, who plays Masha in the film, indicated in a 2013 interview that Jack Black
The Gambler (1974 film) Freed, although obviously different from the character De Niro would have created," wrote Toback later. It was filmed at a time when leading actor James Caan was battling his own addiction to cocaine. Caan says the film is one of his favorites. "It's not easy to make people care about a guy who steals from his mother to pay gambling debts." Some see the film as a loose adaptation of the short novel "The Gambler" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. In August 2011, Paramount Pictures announced a remake of the 1974 film "The Gambler" with the original producers, Irwin Winkler and Robert