Angelina Jolie Owes a Lot to Robert De Niro That is Determining Her Hollywood Future: ‘He sees the bigger picture’

During an interview, Angelina Jolie talked about how Robert De Niro was an excellent director because of his experience as an actor.

Angelina Jolie is an impeccable and talented actress.

Being a household name through her work in Hollywood, she has made a name for herself for so much more than just her acting skills.

Being a director and producer after predominantly acting for most of her professional life is not an easy task.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in By the Sea | Credit: Universal Pictures.

The actress, on the other hand, has been able to manage it excellently well, making a name for herself through how skilled she is.

However, it would seem that this did not come naturally to her, and she was taught by one of the greatest.

Why Is Robert De Niro a Good Director?

In 2006, Angelina Jolie starred alongside Matt Damon and Robert De Niro in the period piece, The Good Shepherd.

The film had an excellent premise, and the actress got to play a character completely different than the ones she became known for.

However, another drastic difference in the film compared to other conventional productions was the fact that it was also directed and produced by De Niro himself.

Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon in a still from The Good Shepherd | Credit: Universal Pictures.

During an interview with The London Net, the actress was asked to comment on his style of direction, having worked with several respected and successful directors in the past.

She started by mentioning that being a part of something with De Niro by her side was a dream come true on its own.

To do anything with De Niro is a dream come true.

Oftentimes, when an actor also plays the role of director in a project, it can either be the best thing that happened in their careers, or the worst. In her interview, Jolie was asked if De Niro was in the latter category or the former.

She was quite vocal about what made the actor such a good director.

He’s obsessive about detail and research and works really hard.

Robert De Niro in a still from The Good Shepherd | Credit: Universal Pictures.

The Girl, Interrupted actress mentioned that there was one very distinctive trait that made De Niro excellent when he was behind the camera; his understanding of the bigger goal.

Jolie mentioned that he was very good at stepping back and looking at the bigger picture of what he was making.

This stopped him from getting lost in the smaller details and, instead, helped him focus on the grand scheme of things.

Angelina Jolie Learned A Lot From Robert De Niro

Angelina Jolie further mentioned that Robert De Niro did a lot of research when he was making something, focusing on the background of his characters and the story itself.

Trying to understand the complete intentions of a character is a practice often associated with actors.

Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon in a still from The Good Shepherd | Credit: Universal Pictures.

Since that was in his background, with him being an Oscar-winning actor, he made use of this skill when he was directing as well.

Jolie even went as far as to call him an “actor’s director,” pointing out that acting with someone who wants to showcase every key part of a character is an actor’s dream come true.

In the years since then, Jolie herself has dabbled in the world of direction and production, having many successful projects to back her skills in this new field.

With her most recent work being Salma Hayek’s Without Blood, it is safe to assume that Jolie has taken the things that she learned from Robert De Niro and used them when she was directing her own works.

The Good Shepherd is available for streaming on AppleTV.