Perspective: Tribeca: Arielle Dollinger

Arielle’s Tribeca Blog #3: Today I Learned That Robert De Niro’s Middle Name Is Anthony.

Arielle Dollinger | Apr 24, 2011 |

Yesterday I took a day off from Tribeca screenings and red carpet shoots to recuperate. The first two days of my coverage took a much larger toll on me than I’d like to admit — running from one side of town to the other to get from one red carpet to the next is actually as stressful as it is fun and exciting.

Today I took yet another hour-long train ride into the city to attend a “Tribeca Talk.” My press pass got me into the red carpet area, where I watched Robert Di Nero (along with others) walk past the group of photographers determined to capture “the money shot.” Our photo editor, Kenneth Ho, was photographing the red carpet. I, however, had something else to do: find a way to get a ticket.

For some reason, my ticket request was never officially confirmed, and a ticket was not reserved for me. I was determined to get into the talk, however, so I spoke to the woman at the ticket pick-up table. I was informed that I could wait around for five to 10 minutes to see if there were tickets available. Luckily there were extras, and she handed me one.

Brian Williams, managing editor of NBC Nightly News, took one of the two seats onstage to interview actor, director, producer and Tribeca Film Festival Co-Founder Robert Di Nero. The two had a relatively good conversation given Di Nero’s reputation as a man of very few words.

The next thing that I’m going to say will make it sound as if I did not enjoy the talk, which would be untrue. But I do have to say that the best part, in my opinion, was the end. Williams thanked De Niro and the audience for coming, everyone was about to get up to leave, and then De Niro put a halt to every movement in the room.

During the interview, Williams read a sentence from De Niro’s page on the website of the Internet Movie Database, which says that De Niro’s middle name is Mario. According to De Niro, this is not so, and he made that very clear.

“My middle name is Anthony!” De Niro exclaimed. And with that, my Tribeca Film Festival experience had come to a close (until I potentially go back for another showing and Tribeca Talk next weekend).