I’ll never forget the first time I saw Robert De Niro onscreen. This will almost certainly reveal my age, but I was introduced to him in Meet the Parents, as the grumpy dad who forces Ben Stiller’s Greg Focker to take a hilarious lie-detector test. Stiller may be the star of that film, but De Niro steals the show.
Since then, I’ve wondered why the actor wasn’t on my TV more often. Of course, the man was legendary in Goodfellas, The Irishman, and The Godfather Part II, but why couldn’t the man pull a Joe Pesci and star in some streamer’s random TV series?
Well, readers, the time has come. At a young eighty-one years old, De Niro has booked his first television gig—though I’m willing to bet he’s probably passed on dozens of offers before it. The upcoming Netflix series Zero Day is a political drama with De Niro as George Mullen, a former American president who helps the current president (Angela Bassett) handle a cyberattack. (Side note: Why do female presidents only exist in fictional worlds?)
Anyway, if De Niro said yes to appearing on the small screen, then Zero Day must be worth the watch. An official synopsis of the show promises pure chaos: “As disinformation runs rampant and the personal ambition of power brokers in technology, Wall Street, and government collide, Mullen’s unwavering search for the truth forces him to confront his own dark secrets while risking all he holds dear.”
Besides starring on the series, De Niro serves as a producer. Director Eric Newman (Griselda) told Netflix Tudum that the actor was very involved in the production. “[De Niro] very much became our partner in this process,” he said. “Very hands-on, very involved, read everything at every stage, and it’s been an incredible honour and privilege.”
Zero Day also features Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen, Connie Britton, and Matthew Modine, along with guest appearances by Bill Camp, Dan Stevens, Gaby Hoffmann, Clark Gregg, and McKinley Belcher III.
Luckily, we won’t have to wait long to see the drama play out. Zero Day premieres on February 20, 2025.
Originally published on Esquire US
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