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Robert De Niro: Trump is too stupid to know he’s evil

Written by on 14/10/2019

Robert De Niro has launched a fresh attack on Donald Trump, saying he is a “monster” who is “too stupid to even know he’s evil”.

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Speaking at The Irishman’s European premiere at the BFI London Film Festival’s closing night gala, the 76-year-old told Sky News: “Trump is a monster. He’s a monster without even realising it, he’s just too stupid to realise.

“He said there’s a famous quote somewhere about the mundaneness and banality of evil… And he is too stupid to even know he’s evil.

“He allows evil to come around him and use him, he might not initiate something evil, but he will allow it.

“We will have a problem with him if we don’t get rid of him.”

De Niro is a vocal critic of the US president and has previously said he would like to see him go to jail.

Mr Trump is currently facing an impeachment inquiry led by Democrats on Capitol Hill.

De Niro also said he sympathises with the UK over Brexit.

The 76-year-old said: “I feel bad for everybody here because you have a crisis.

“We just want to get America straightened out. You guys, hopefully you can straighten your thing out in the right way.”

The actor was in London to promote The Irishman, a mob epic which tells the story of the unsolved murder of union leader Jimmy Hoffa.

It’s based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses and is told from the perspective of mobster Frank Sheeran – played by De Niro.

It’s his ninth collaboration with veteran director Martin Scorsese.

The ambitious movie boasts a stellar cast, with Al Pacino and Joe Pesci starring alongside De Niro in lead roles.

While it was Pacino’s first time working with Scorsese, it was a step back into the past for Pesci who previously worked with him on classics Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Casino.

Pesci is said to have refused 50 times, before finally coming out of retirement to take on the role of mafia boss Russell Bufalino.

The three-and-a-half-hour film – which is rumoured to have cost more than $150m to make, uses game-changing technology – referred to by Scorsese as “youthification”.

While its leading actors are all are in their 70s, they drop around 30 years in parts of the film.

Several also add years for the film’s finale.

Harvey Keitel, who’s 80 and plays mobster Angelo Bruno in the film, joked about his co-stars on the red carpet, saying: “We had to make them younger to keep up with me”.

The Irishman is in selected cinemas from 8 November and on Netflix from 27 November.

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(c) Sky News 2019: Robert De Niro: Trump is too stupid to know he’s evil