Robert De Niro: Filming Netflix series like doing three features back to back
Robert De Niro has said filming for a new Netflix series about cyber warfare was 'like doing three features back to back'.
The Oscar-winning actor, 81, was an executive producer on Zero Day, which sees him play former US president George Mullen, who is pulled out of retirement amid a cyber attack that has shut down the country's entire technology infrastructure.
Speaking at a London screening, he said: 'It is like doing three features back to back.'
He added: 'Jesse (Plemons) and I were talking about it, and he was saying, 'Television's a little different, you know?'
'And I kind of saw what he meant as time went on.
'It's just that there was a schedule, a very tight thing for me, I was in most of it (the film), and so I had to keep up with everything, even (something) as simple as knowing the lines.
'So, I likened it to being in the English Channel, swimming to England from France, looking behind me and not seeing France, looking ahead and not seeing England.
'I gotta keep going, otherwise I'm going to sink.'
The six-episode series has been co-created by Eric Newman and Noah Oppenheim and stars Breaking Bad actor Plemons as Roger Carlson, George Mullen's former aide, and Mean Girls actress Lizzy Caplan as Alexandra Mullen, a young congresswoman from New York.
The political thriller begins with a 'zero-day event' which shuts down air traffic control, railroad crossings, subway signals, banking, communication, and other major systems.
Angela Bassett is The President.
Zero Day, a new conspiracy thriller series, also stars Robert DeNiro, Dan Stevens, Matthew Modine, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen & Connie Britton. Coming soon to Netflix. pic.twitter.com/ltk83vXAGf
— Netflix (@netflix) December 19, 2023
An ominous message follows from an unknown and unseen enemy saying 'this will happen again' before US president Evelyn Mitchell, played by Angela Bassett, calls upon the former president, played by De Niro, to head the Zero Day Commission, charged with finding the designers of the attack.
Asked if he had done any research for the film, De Niro said: 'Not in a sense, it was basically me reacting in the situation, I didn't feel that I had to.
'I had great people supporting me, Eric, Noah, (executive producer) Michael Schmidt, and technical people.
'We had the best advisers we could have had. And so it was there in the script, when I read each episode, I said, 'This is really good.''
Eric actress Gaby Hoffmann guest stars as Monica Kidder, a controversial Silicon Valley billionaire, with Agents Of Shield star Clark Gregg in a guest role as corporate raider, provocateur, and billionaire Robert Lyndon.
The cast ensemble also comprises The White Lotus star Connie Britton, Room star Joan Allen, and Stranger Things actor Matthew Modine.
The series was filmed in New York and Washingston DC.
De Niro will also star in Netflix film The Whisper Man, a new adaptation of Alex North's bestselling novel of the same name which will begin production in the spring.
Zero Day will be released to the streaming platform on February 20.
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