De Niro & Pacino Get Righteous

By Tom Clavin

Academy Award winners Robert De Niro and Al Pacino - together on screen in "Righteous Kill". All photos courtesy of Overture Films

Academy Award winners Robert De Niro, a long-time member of the Montauk community, and Al Pacino star as a pair of veteran New York City police detectives on the trail of a vigilante serial killer in the adrenaline-fueled psychological thriller "Righteous Kill." This is only the second time they have appeared on screen together, but they did star in a film together. Can you remember what it was?

An intricately plotted mystery that will keep audiences guessing until the dramatic ending, "Righteous Kill" also features hip-hop superstar Curtis Jackson (a/k/a 50 Cent), Carla Gugin, John Leguizamo, and Donnie Wahlberg. Veteran stage actor Brian Dennehy joins Trilby Glover and Rob Dyrdek of MTV's hit show "Rob & Big" for a cameo appearance. The film is directed by Jon Avnet and written by Russell Gewirtz, who collaborated with Spike Lee on the thriller "Inside Man."

A serial murderer walks the streets of Manhattan, targeting violent felons who have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. All the victims are suspected criminals whose bodies are found accompanied by a four-line poem justifying the killing. The killer's mission is to do what the cops can't do on their own - take the bad guys off the streets for good.

When a notorious pimp becomes one of the killer's victims, highly decorated detectives Turk (De Niro) and Rooster (Pacino) are called in to investigate. This case could easily be the biggest one in their 30 years on the force.

With the unwitting help of a local drug dealer, the detectives follow what few clues they have, but their search soon turns inward, eventually leading them full circle as they realize the killer may be one of their own.

Of course, De Niro and Pacino hold a unique place in the public imagination. Known for their intensity and unforgettable performances in some of the grittiest, most respected urban dramas of the past 30 years, until now the Oscar-winning actors have shared only a few minutes of screen time. "Righteous Kill" marks the first time audiences will see them together in almost every scene of a movie.

John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg

"When you're told that you can you come and work on a movie with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, it's very hard to say no," says producer Rob Cowan. "These two guys are iconic. I think that for everybody it was kind of a magical thing and it drew a lot of people to the project. It was certainly terrific watching them on set."

Randall Emmett, co-chair of Emmett/Furla Films and one of the film's producers, had been looking for a property for De Niro for some time. "When Avi Lerner and I came across this script, we felt it was perfect for him. He responded to it, and then the next step was kind of backwards, because we didn't have a director. The first name that came to us was Jon Avnet, a director we'd worked with before and respected."

Lerner, co-chairman of Millennium/Nu Image Films and the producer of over 200 films including "The Black Dahlia" and "Rambo," says he was impressed by the way Avnet works. "I like his efficiency. I like the fact that he's a director and a producer from the independent world and understands the way we work. And he's a very, very sensitive person. He knows how to show the relationship between characters."

For his part, veteran director and producer Jon Avnet was elated to have a chance to work with De Niro, who has won two Oscars and been nominated for four others. Avnet went to New York to meet De Niro and talk with him about the script. When the conversation turned to casting, De Niro suggested Al Pacino for the role of his partner.

By the way readers, that film they were both in but never appeared together: "Godfather II," in which a young De Niro portrayed Pacino's father, Don Corleone, a role originally played by Marlon Brando. Years later, Brando and De Niro starred together in "The Score."

"You know, Al and I weren't actually in any scenes together in 'Godfather II'," says De Niro. "We did "Heat" about 13 or 14 years ago and it was great, but we were only together for a few minutes on screen. When I said, 'Well, what about Al?' Jon just grabbed on to that."

"Bob [De Niro] suggested I play the role," recalls Pacino. "I read the script and felt it would be a good opportunity to work with Bob in a role I thought I could play."

Speaking of working with his old friend and colleague, De Niro says: "If you know each other as long as we've known each other, you can draw on that background. And even if it's a subtle sort of imperceptible thing, the comfort level is there because we have known each other so long. So interesting things kind of emerge."

Curtis Jackson

"Bob and I get along well - always have," adds Pacino, "so we have a mutual trust which always helps."

Everyone involved in the film knew immediately that "Righteous Kill" was becoming a once in a lifetime opportunity. "Once we knew we had them both, we all had to accept the reality of the responsibility," says Emmett. "These are two legendary guys that the whole world looks at as the greatest actors of all time. Now we have to go make the movie."

Screenwriter Russell Gewirtz hadn't even considered the possibility of having two of Hollywood's most honored actors in his second film. "I don't think of actors when I write," he says. "My characters have no faces, they're not actors. They're just who they are. In this case, what was most important to me was that the two characters had to be equally matched. You have to believe a relationship between these two, a brotherhood. And I can't think of a better pairing than these two actors."

Like "Inside Man," "Righteous Kill" is packed with complicated characters, sharp dialog, and unexpected plot turns that counter audience expectations. In writing the movie, Gewirtz says he decided to begin from the end of the story and work backwards. "I came up with the twist first. When I write a script like this, I look for that one moment - generally at the end of the movie - that's going to make people say, 'What did I just see? I've got to watch this again.' I had that feeling when I watched "The Usual Suspects" and it inspired me. That's when I started thinking, 'I wish I could do that.'"

For all those movie lovers who have been thinking, "I wish I could see Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in another picture together," that day has arrived – this Friday, when "Righteous Kill" opens nationwide.

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Tom Clavin, whose most recent book is “Halsey’s Typhoon,” a World War II story published by the Atlantic Monthly Press, writes regularly about movies and other entertainment topics for Hamptons.com. Comments and suggestions can be sent to Hondo7@optonline.net.