-They love you. We love you.
Thank you for being here.
I appreciate it, bud. You look great.
You know, you were very nice enough -- you were my first
guest ever when I started "Late Night."
-Yeah. -Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
What we found is when we had "Late Night" --
we have them for "Tonight Show" tonight, too.
But before every show, we have guests sign a guestbook.
This is real.
And just say whatever you want to say,
just sign something to me.
And so you were the first person to sign this book.
And I was just wondering if you could maybe read what you wrote
'cause this is -- [ Laughter ]
Can you see it there?
-[ Clears throat ] Yeah.
I said, "Jimmy, I think you really [bleep] up."
[ Laughter ]
-Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much.
-You're welcome. -I appreciate that.
[ Sad tuba ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-And you know, I gave -- How many years ago was that?
-That's 13 years ago. -Wow.
Because I gave you a dollar, didn't I?
-Yes, that was "Tonight Show." Yeah, that was "Tonight Show."
-So where's the interest on that?
[ Laughter ]
-No, you don't get any money back for that.
A big honor, over the weekend, the Harry Ransom Center
at the University of Texas opened
the De Niro Curator of Film endowment.
This is a museum...
[ Cheers and applause ]
...that is everything that you've saved
throughout your career, right?
-Well, not everything. A lot.
Because I see that stuff would disappear.
Or I'd be trying on something in a costume place in L.A.,
and it'd be something from another production that you say,
"Geez, you'd think they'd keep that or something."
It's kind of a -- It was a special movie or this or that.
And in my own experience, things would just disappear
if you didn't hold on to them.
They just would -- People would take them and so on
as souvenirs or maybe -- I don't know.
And even there was a thing with -- Brando had
his original "Godfather" script sold on eBay.
And my assistant pointed this out to me.
So, it never really -- you know, it just never had a real place.
It just was wherever, bought and put away somewhere.
So I thought I'll keep all this stuff and keep it
and then one day we started talking about where it would go
because it was becoming very costly just to hold it all.
And so the Harry Ransom Center took all my material,
which I thought was -- I was very happy
because they've got great things there
and proud to be part of that family.
-That's so cool. I mean, it's an amazing thing.
One of the things I saw that you gave to them is the --
You actually got a taxicab driver's license
when you did "Taxi Driver."
You actually were a cabbie for a little bit.
That's amazing.
I love the hair there, too. [ Laughter ]
How were you as a cab driver?
-I was okay.
I'm a New York driver, you know.
So, I got along. I got around.
-Did people recognize you?
-Well, there was one guy, I think, did a double take when he
looked through the mirror and wasn't sure whether it was me.
That was it. -Yeah, that was it.
I saw Meryl Streep talked at the Harry Ransom Center
in University of Texas.
And she said some very nice things about you.
Said that you were the inspiration for her being
the type of actor that she wanted to be.
-Well, she said some wonderful, beautiful things.
I was -- I mean, I didn't even know what to say.
But it was really great of her, yeah.
-Not only are you an inspiration to other actors,
but also, a lot of people --
other actors do impressions of you.
I don't know if you've heard.
[ Laughter ] -No.
[ Laughter ]
-Well, I mean even on this show in particular, we have --
this is just some faces -- -No, none of them.
No, no. [ Laughter ]
-Not even close.
How would you say that you would do an impression of you?
-I couldn't. I don't know.
[ Laughter ]
-That's so funny.
[ Laughter ]
I don't know how many times I've done
an impression of you in front of you.
You've been very patient. You've been a very good sport.
I'm not even going to do it tonight, I promise.
-Oh, God.
[ Laughter ]
I missed it.
-[ as De Niro ] Let's talk about your new movie.
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] I do want to talk about "Amsterdam," by the way.
This cast is unbelievable -- Christian Bale, Margot Robbie.
You got Rami Malek, Michael Shannon.
It's David O. Russell, who you've worked with before.
-Yeah. -It's a great story. At the beginning of the movie,
it says a lot of this really happened.
And it's actually based on a story that did happen.
Is that why you wanted to do this movie because it's --
-Well, that, the character of Smedley Butler was based on was
really a great character who I wasn't aware of that
David O. Russell told me about when he was describing
the whole movie and the story and so on.
This went over a couple of -- almost -- a couple of months
where he would tell me about this story from time to time
and a possible character I would do.
And then he mentioned this character,
the one that I played, Dillenbeck.
And he said it's based on this guy
Smedley Butler, this general.
So he told me to look at the material on him.
And the speeches he made, it was great.
It was really -- At that time especially between the First
and Second World War, that period when things
were ramping up with the fascists in Italy,
Mussolini and Hitler and all that.
I mean, it was exactly the same thing
then that is now happening.
He was a very, very courageous --
-And how does David O. Russell find these stories?
-Well, that's a good question. I don't know.
-It's amazing. And he does a great job
intertwining and watching it all together.
And there's a young actress in this film --
Taylor Swift I think is going to be big one day.
If you check out this -- Yeah.
You made headlines over the summer, by the way,
saying that you have every Taylor Swift album.
-Right.
[ Laughter ]
-Is that true?
-No.
[ Laughter, rim shot ]
I mean, I was kidding, but I --
but she's wonderful in the movie.
She really is terrific. -She's great.
-I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Robert De Niro in "Amsterdam."
Take a look at this.
-I'm the doctor. She's the nurse.
He's the attorney.
We all met in Belgium.
Which if you recall is where we met for the first time.
-As well as Washington last summer, at the B.E.F. March.
-I'll tell you one thing that I can remember quite clearly.
You did something -- You sang a song, I believe.
-Which one, sir?
-Well, that's for you to remember.
I-I met thousands of people.
You just met me twice.
So you should remember the song.
I'd like you to sing it now, then I'll know it's you.
-Sing a song. -♪ Did you ever see a dream ♪
♪ Walking, well, I did ♪
♪ Did you ever hear a dream talking, then I did ♪
-Oh, no, no. That's not it.
[ Laughter and applause ]
-That's not it. No, no, no, not even close.
Before you go, I actually have the "Tonight Show" guestbook.
I thought maybe if you want, maybe take another shot
at writing something.
-Do I really have to? -Yeah, go for it.
I'll date it. -I don't know what to say.
-Think of something. You can say something.
Anything you want. I won't read it.
-Um, okay. Let's see.
"You're lucky you're still here"?
[ Laughter and applause ]
-He is writing that. He is writing that.
[ Laughter and applause ]
That is exactly what I'm talking about.
Robert De Niro, everybody.
"Amsterdam" is in theaters October 7th.
We'll be right back with Chloe Fineman.
Stick around.