Robert De Niro was presented with the honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival’s opening ceremony Tuesday night.
After thanking the festival for the honor, the Academy Award-winning actor, 81, used the opportunity to rail against “philistine” President Trump, a frequent target of his criticism, for being an “enemy of the arts” and ordering tariffs on films made outside the United States.
“You can’t put a price on creativity, but apparently you can put a tariff on it,” De Niro said. “Of course, this is unacceptable. All of these attacks are unacceptable. And this isn’t just an American problem, it’s a global one. Like a film, we can’t just all sit back and watch. We have to act, and we have to act now.”
De Niro — who was accompanied by partner Tiffany Chen in a rare appearance — called for “everyone who cares about liberty” to protest and “vote.”
While his speech was political, the moment at the start of the 12-day festival in France was really a celebration of De Niro’s esteemed career, which Leonardo DiCaprio spoke about while presenting him with the award. The two men first starred together in the 1993 film This Boy’s Life and did so more recently in 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
Leonardo DiCaprio presented De Niro with the award. (Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
“The audition process was a tough one,” DiCaprio said of being cast in This Boy’s Life as a teen. There’s lots of competition. None of us knew who would get the part. And at 15 or 16 years old, I did the only thing I could think to stand out: I screamed at him at the top of my lungs. The room burst into laughter.”
De Niro was asked later that day who he wanted to see cast in the role, “And in classic De Niro fashion, he replied, ‘Second kid from the last,’” said DiCaprio. “Luckily, that second kid was me. And that moment changed my life forever.”
Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in This Boy’s Life. (Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection)
DiCaprio said that De Niro “doesn’t say much, but when he does, it matters. Whether it’s for his friends, his family, fighting for our democracy or supporting the art of filmmaking, he shows up.” And while quiet, De Niro’s collaborations with director Martin Scorsese — including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon — “redefined what cinema could be.”
As he wrapped up, DiCaprio said that anyone who knows De Niro is aware that “he’s not someone who particularly enjoys being in the spotlight off camera,” but “even the most private giants deserve their moment, a moment to be acknowledged, not just for their work but for the quiet lasting influence they’ve had on so many lives.”
One of the most widely recognized and talented actors of our time, De Niro has been making movies for 60 years. His career has netted him nine Oscar nominations, with two wins for Best Supporting Actor in The Godfather Part II (1974) and Best Actor in Raging Bull (1980).
While his films range in genre — drama, action, romance, comedies — he’s known for creating strong, character-driven roles and uttering lines so memorable you can recognize them in just four words — like “You talkin’ to me?” from 1976’s Taxi Driver, which he actually improvised.
Despite De Niro not loving interviews, he’s given many, along with insightful quotes about his Hollywood career and the characters he’s entertained us with.
On crediting ‘luck,’ not talent, for his success:
“I’m lucky that I have whatever I had that makes me have a successful career,” De Niro told CBS News in 2013. Pressed on his use of luck, he added, “Well, then I’m lucky I have the drive to do the work. But you’re always lucky.”
On Vito Corleone, his role in The Godfather Part II, changing his life:
“Getting the part changed my career, or revved it up, if you will,” he told Cigar Aficiando in 2015. “Then winning the Academy Award, you’re kind of guaranteed that you’re going to work again as an actor. … The anticipation of Godfather II was really big. Luckily, [director] Francis [Ford Coppola] wanted me to do it.”
Michael V. Gazzo and De Niro in The Godfather: Part II. (Courtesy Everett Collection)
On how he connects with his famed characters:
“Every character has a certain rhythm to it, and you have to do whatever it takes to locate that,” he told AARP in 2024.
On how jumping into a role, versus dissecting it, is his approach:
“I don’t get into these long-winded, heavy discussions about character — do we do this or that or what,” he told the New York Times in 2012. “At the end of the day, what you gotta do is just go out there and do it. And the director respects what they’ve hired you for and chosen you for: to do the part and respect what you’re doing.”
On working with, not against, costars:
“You’re not in a competitive situation with another actor,” he said in a 2013 TimesTalks. “The better they are, the better you are.”
On the importance of a great director:
“I’ll work with a director if I think I’m going to get into a comfortable situation, and if it’s someone I respect and who respects me, even if they’re not so well known,” he told Interview in 2012. “Movies are hard to make, and you have to work toward a common ethic and do your best. You don’t want to work with people who don’t care or who are acting out some neurotic, crazy thesis on the set. Who needs it? Life is too short. But I’ve been very lucky in that area.”
On his many collaborations with Scorsese:
“[I’m] very lucky to have started working with Marty in my late 20s and done all these projects together,” he told People in 2024. “I always say this, he’s good with everyone. He allows people to do what they can do best, and then he’ll direct from there. … He has very clear ideas but knows not to impose anything and let the people just feel free enough to be expressed as much as they can through whatever they’re doing.”
Director Martin Scorsese and De Niro on the set of Taxi Driver on July 15, 1975, in New York City. (Lynn Karlin/Penske Media via Getty Images)
On doing comedy in films, including Midnight Run, Meet the Parents and Analyze This:
“It’s a different kind of thing in comedy,” he told NJ.com in 2009. “You feel like you have a little more freedom or leeway to stretch it. You can put more emphasis on things that you normally wouldn’t, where you’d be going over a line. … You can kick it up a bit.”
On directing the films The Good Shepherd and A Bronx Tale:
“It takes a lot of work to direct a movie,” he said on Real Time With Bill Maher in 2024. “If you do a film, you make it your own.”
On the film that required the toughest preparation:
“I guess Raging Bull because of [putting on] the weight and all that,” he said during a Hollywood Reporter roundtable in 2019. On the podcast Off Menu with James Acaster and Ed Gamble in 2025, he said, “When I was gaining [ the 60 pounds], I ate pancakes in the morning, I had to eat in the morning, three full meals, which was hard to do, and then digest the food, to eat lunch and then dinner. … It’s kind of fun for the first 10, 12, 15 pounds, and [then] it’s drudgery.”
Scorsese and De Niro on the set of “Raging Bull.” (Courtesy Everett Collection)
On his most memorable film line:
“Every day for 40 f***ing years at least one of you has come up to me and said … ‘You talkin’ to me,’” he said in 2016 at Taxi Driver’s 40th anniversary screening.
On that film line being unscripted:
“It was done spontaneously,” he said on Live With Kelly and Mark in 2025. “You don’t know what’s going to [happen]. That’s the fun of working, especially with someone like Marty Scorsese. It’s nice to be able to go here and there, go off, following the scene or the thrust of the story, but you can go here and there. You never know when that stuff is usable.”
On Zero Day, his first major TV role:
“It’s like doing three features back to back,” he said at a 2025 screening. “I likened it to being in the English Channel — swimming to England from France, looking behind me and not seeing France, looking ahead, not seeing England. I gotta keep going, otherwise I’m gonna sink.”
On his worries about AI’s impact on filmmaking:
“Everybody’s worried,” he told Yahoo Entertainment in 2025. “I was talking to somebody the other day who was saying that they were trying to re-create a similar script to a well-known story, and they put it all together with different elements of AI — and they came up with a pretty good thing.” That said, “You can’t replace people.”
On continuing to work in his 80s:
“I hope I can. I’m very busy,” he said on Real Time With Bill Maher. “I keep going because I know if you don’t keep going, you will atrophy and dry up.”
On advice he gives to actors:
“I tell any actors — I tell my own kids this — if you’re reading for something, just assume you’re not going to get the part,” he said on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in 2022. “That will free you … to make a bolder choice maybe.”
On whether he’s intimidated by anyone:
“No,” he said on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in 2025.
De Niro on the red carpet at Cannes. (Mike Marsland/WireImage)
On critics:
“If you didn’t have critics — even though they can annoy you and upset you — [who] would tell you how it is?” he told the New York Times in 2012. “Because people won’t tell you. When you do a movie and you’re showing it to people or audiences or friends, they’re never going to say that they dislike it. Because they’re with you and they know what you went through. So they’ll always find a positive thing to say. So the people who you’ll get real feedback from are critics. Especially good critics.”
On the possibility of retirement:
“What am I gonna do?” he told On Demand Entertainment in 2025. “Am I gonna play golf? I don’t play golf.”
