The Oscar winning actor reinvents himself for the small screen. In ‘Nada’, he takes the audience in a comedic yet heartwarming cultural collision, intertwining the lives of the quirky food critic Manuel, portrayed by Luis Brandoni, and De Niro’s character, an American writer navigating the vibrant and sometimes chaotic tapestry of Spanish culture.
This new series provides a unique platform for De Niro, renowned globally for his cinematic performances, to weave a narrative that is both an entertaining fiction and a celebration of Spanish culture, through the lens of a foreigner discovering its multifaceted charm.
In Spanish-language series ‘Nada’, Robert DeNiro is introduced to colorful slang, while contradictory situations result in a significant learning experience. The actor also leads the show ‘Zero Day’ in Netflix, the limited series comes from ‘Oppenheim’ co-showrunner and executive producer Eric Newman and Michael S. Schmidt, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New York Times.
De Niro stars as George Mullen, a respected former US president tasked with investigating a deadly cyberattack. Across six heart-pounding episodes, his search for the truth is hindered by disinformation that continues to divide the country and personal demons that threaten his grip on reality. A figure from a bygone era of bipartisanship, Mullen is still someone who both sides can trust, even as he starts to question if what he’s seeing and hearing is real.
In a virtual interview, we had the opportunity to talk with the actor about his passion for acting, Spanish culture and reading
Q: The show ‘Nada’ marks not only your debut into Spanish television but also a collaboration with you friend, Luis Brandoni, blurring the lines between reality and fiction, as the characters navigate their friendship amidst the rich, flavorful, and expressive landscape of Buenos Aires.
A: Yes. Is a very small part but a delightful experience that transcends mere entertainment. It is a show about the vibrant Spanish cuisine, friendship, discovery and the uninhibited joy of exploring new cultural horizons.
Q: How is your Spanish? You do speak Spanish in ‘Nada’
A: It is better than it used to be. As I said, I like to learn and explore other cultures. I know my words in Spanish. I really like to speak Spanish in the series, in fact, I asked for that.
Q: Do you like to read?
Q: Yes, I love coming to bookstores. My father was a poet and the only consistent advice from established writers is to read everything. So I read as much as I can. With books, with stories, with movies we have the opportunity to live the lives of the books and experience other humans points of view
Q: Do you have a favorite Spanish author?
A: I will say that I’ve read Borges and Garcia Marquez. I can’t remember another one on the top of my head
Q: You also have in Netflix the show ‘Zero Day’. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about filming in New York City and what that kind of brought to the series, getting to shoot on location?
A: Well, that's one of the reasons it got started, 'cause I was talking to my agent about doing something in New York for a while, in five, six months, and then we talked about a limited series. And I met Eric, he introduced me to Eric, and we talked. And he had, coincidentally, I suppose, had something that he and Noah were talking about in New York just a few days earlier. So he sent me, like, a treatment of that, and then a couple of episodes and I saw it was terrific. So I was happy, you know, ready to go.
Q: What was the work that you guys kind of did to get to that point, because it is clear there's so much history between your characters that you bring to the screen?
A: Well, the script and what these guys had done was so good. There wasn't any sort of preparation for us before. We rehearsed every scene, of course, but it was there, the dialogue was good. It could have been corny or this or that, or pretentious or tendentious or whatever it would have been. I wouldn't be here. But it was great
Q: Now, you're not just the star of Zero Day. You're also an executive producer. So wondering what still excites you about getting involved behind the scenes of projects you work on?
A: Well, I mean, the fact is that my contribution would have been the same whether I was an executive producer or not. You know, it's a nice credit. I don't want to go off on this, but sometimes people have too many of those credits out there and they don't really deserve them, 'cause it could be connected to the main person that they want. So, okay, well, give me credit. Now it loses its meaning. But yeah, so I'm happy to have it, but everything I said with everybody would have been the same.
Q: Did you have to be convinced to get on board with the conspiracy thriller ‘Zero Day’?
A: Eric Newman brought me the idea early in the process, and I was excited from the beginning about the possibility of playing this role. I felt that there are important messages that need to be conveyed, and that this show could be a great vehicle for exploring some of the challenges that the people of this country, and of this world, are facing. I knew I was in safe hands, and that whatever was written was accurate and real and believable. So, I just had to deliver it.
Q: Was important to establish a relationship between the characters?
A: Yes, well, the stakes are obviously high for all of the characters and what’s going on in the world. Our world within the show is so massive, but what was important to me was that the relationship between the father and daughter felt huge. I think that many daughters think they know better than their fathers. But not many daughters are telling the former president of the United States how to do their job better, how they could have done it better. And kind of juggling both of those things at the same time made every scene very rich.
María Estévez
Correspondent writer
