Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro is regarded around the world as one of the greatest actors to grace our screens. De Niro has been in such legendary films as 'The Godfather II', 'Deer Hunter', 'Heat' and more. One of De Niro's main assets is his pure dedication to the roles that he plays, creating convincing characters in which he is fully immeresed, and in the turn the audience are immersied in his characters. For example, in 'Cape Fear', De Niro paid some $60,000 to have his teeth ruined by a dentist to fit the physco serial-killer role, and then have the teeth returned to their previous state. This dedication is something to inspire all actors, and it makes him a legend. Actors in our film, although not to the same extremes, are expected to be dedicated to their roles.

Another asset is his sheer diversity, making him eligible for all sorts of roles, one of which is very relevant to our piece, a soldier. In 'Deer Hunter' De Niro plays a U.S Soldier in Vietnam. Typically De Niro plays a 'tough guy' role, physically intimidating and adept in combat skills. Adding to his stature are various filming techniques. The classic low angle shot is the traditional way of easily conveying a characters strength and importance. It gives the affect of a character looming over the audience, and causes the figure to dominate the entire shot. Close ups on De Niro's stern and violent facial expressions are also frequent, not only conveying his aggression, but his damaged mental state. This maintains audience symathy, and this is the sort of character we want as our protagonist, one who is strong, aggressive, but ultimately likeable.

Robert De Niro's role as Mike Vronsky from 'Deer Hunter' then, is a core inspiration and style model for the protagonist of our film, Luke Denton. It is important to have inspirations, and in the acting world they do not get much better than De Niro.