De Niro: Actors have a lot of power in industry

Robert de Niro thinks celebrity status is too influential on the film industry.

The 66-year-old actor believes making movies has radically changed since he first started working because individual stars have so much power over what projects get given the go-ahead.

He said: "The young actors today have the power to make the decisions on the kinds of movies they want to do, because people want to see them. It's up to them really. I don't want to make it so heavy as to say they carry the responsibility, but they make those choices. When we were in the 70s, Martin Scorsese and me did certain movies because we wanted to, it was stuff we cared about and were interested in. Today it's different."

The ‘Meet The Little Fockers’ actor also revealed he wants the time to watch every film he has ever made.

He added to Ireland’s Evening Herald newspaper: "I'd like to find the time to look at all my movies from the very beginning and just see what it is, but I don't know if I'll ever do that. Maybe I will.

"I find myself sometimes talking to people who I've known for years like Harvey Keitel - I'm doing a few scenes with him in ‘Meet the Little Fockers’ - and we were reminiscing about some things because we've known each other such a long time. You start doing that when you get older."