out.

So to be here in the park today for this event both wants me and breaks my heart.

Thank you, Miles Taylor, David Garrett, Reid, and Tom Epstein before the mail date.

Did you hear me now? Yes.

I know this is a bold civic statement about unrestrained corruption compounded by a depraved cover-up, but it's much more.

And I struggle with how to think about the miserable saga of Jeffrey Epstein and his Trump campaign.

Trump doesn't

protect us.

Are you suspicious of people that are like, I guess I'm projecting, but I'm a little suspicious sometime when people are too, Like, I don't know, when they're flattering me.

Sure.

Well, you know, it's funny.

I don't mind when a director or somebody tries to tell you very good or certain types of...

That's good.

And... because it's like when I was, I did the last tycoon with Elliot Kazan and we came out of a looping stage and he said, you know, that was great.

Cause he was like, you know, that was really, you know, just got it.

What, what is it like to have a friend in this business for this long? Yeah.

[laughs]

... you don't...

It, it's funny, uh, uh, uh, I don't mind the, um, uh, w- when a director or, or, or somebody tries to tell you you're very good or certain types of tr- "That's good.

It is good." And, um, uh, because it, it, it's like I w- when I was, I did The, The Last Tycoon with Elia Kazan, and we, we came out of a looping, uh, stage.

And he said, "You know, that was great," 'cause he was like, you know, "That was really, you know, just gotta..." I said, "Well, thanks.

I feel good even though I'm not sure you really meant it, but I'm happy you, you say so."

Yeah, great impression of you.

And I, and I, and I, [laughs] and one that he, he did a, he did, he was on, uh, I forget what talk show he was on, and he was saying, commenting on The Godfather reunion with me and Al and Bobby Duvall and Francis and Talia Shire and, and, uh, Jimmy Caan and everybody.

Here's a clip.

The festival was kind of an act of defiance.

We had 120 days, 1,300 volunteers, no money, no blueprint, just an idea and a neighborhood that needed people back in it.

This wasn't just about movies, it was about whether downtown was coming back.

It was still hard to process it, wasn't it? Even though you're looking at it with your own eyes.

Yeah.

It w- it was unreal.

S- surreal.

Do you feel like that you wanted to kind of translate more of your performance kind of more non-verbally and communicate in that fashion than with what the words the character was actually saying? Say that again? Was he trying to more communicate with his face and communicate his thinking more than actual the words that the character was saying?

Well, it's not that he was trying to communicate that, his feelings.

That's how he was feeling.

So there was no need to say certain things.

It would seem just...

And he also was still... into that case because, I mean, I'm forgetting because I've not seen the film for a while, but it's starting to show that something is happening similar with his grandson.

He's a guy, he's been through, he doesn't want to, what's there to say? And that to me seems like right for a guy in his situation, ex-detective and working on his case for so long.

Was that some kind of intentional choice of acknowledging the awkwardness of this meeting?

When you look back at kind of when the festival started to now, just what is your take on the state of film in general? What, what sticks out? Is it innovation? Is it technology? Is it directors?

Well, it's, I, I, you know, I don't see a lot of the movies that are coming out now.

I'm t- talking with my daughter about, uh, s- what we're gonna see [laughs] uh, in the next couple of days.

But, um, uh, things are changing as we see all around us, and we're concerned about the state of, uh, film, the film business, if you will-

Yeah

...

in California and here, but they, there now.

And what's happening, um, uh, it's changing and some things you have no control over, some you do.

And Robert, looking back at the decision to move from restaurants into hotels and branded residences, how do you view that decision now, looking back?

Well, I just thought very simply when we were always being asked to go into hotels like the Hard Rock where we met Trevor, he made me aware of something that I was saying and he understood it.

And I might have been thinking about this before, but I became very aware of it.

And then I said, he sort of said, I understand what you're saying the way I remember it.

They were asking me, we were in San Diego, asking us questions about the Hard Rock.

I said, the Hard Rock is a hotel.

We're in Obu.

Yeah.

And Robert, looking back at the decision to move from restaurants into hotels and, and branded residences, how, how do you view that decision now looking back?

Well, I, I, I just thought very simply when we were always being asked to go into hotels like the Hard Rock where we met Trevor, he made me aware of something that I was saying, and he understood it.

And I might have been thinking about this before, but I became very aware of it.

And then as I say, he sort of said, "I understand what you're saying," the way I remember it.

They were asking me que- we were in San Diego asking us questions about the Hard Rock.

I said, "I...

The Hard Rock is a hotel.

[laughs]

Baby Gia just turned three in April.

She's adorable.

Well, we look at toys in colors, Miss Rachel wiggles.

She gets more interested in certain things and very, very particular.

If she doesn't like something, I have to switch it.

So she knows what she likes.

She knows what she likes.

Robert, can you believe that?

Yeah

... took me to this, "You gotta go to this place with me." And I went, and I, after I had a few things to eat, I said, "If you ever wanna open a restaurant in New York, let me know." And we had opened the Tribeca Grill by that point, and I, I, uh...

So it took a couple of years, but we opened one in New York, in Tribeca, and that was it.

Were you like, "Hey, Al, I would do this"?

Well, we did.

We talked about movies over the years.

Give, give each other advice about things.

And I, and I remember talking to him about doing, um, Scarface because, um, uh, I, I said, "If you don't do it, I, I'm gonna do it."

I can't imagine you not speaking out when you see something wrong.

What it was in the beginning is that I would see him at these rallies saying things like to say, I want to punch him in the face.

How dare you say that? You want to punch somebody in the face.

I realized this guy's got a real problem.

Much worse than I ever thought.

You're bound to create bad situations by doing that.

That's not a person who cares about everybody, who's trying to unite everybody.

And in its comeback after 9-11, I keep thinking about, you know, if people who don't respect the truth, if people who don't respect the FBI, people who don't respect the Department of Justice, what do you worry about for our city with these guys in charge?

and

whatever, you know, go through all the nonsense.

I'll have something to say about, as everyone will, about what he said, because it'll be I don't see why it would be any different from things that he's done before.

So it'll be pretty stupid and idiotic and repetitive and just nonsense, you know.

And anything that he can sell to the people out there in the Midlands or wherever, but they buy it because they only hear his voice.

But, you know, it's not going to mean...

Well, it will mean something, but we don't want it to really mean... much more than just whatever whoever's intended audiences but the the reality is the people the majority i have to think of this country will say we've had enough um we've had enough of the nonsense he's a clown and uh we've had enough of the nonsense with all the pundits who want to speak for him and this and that even against him Come on.

No, I was going to say, what gives you hope when you see a moment like tomorrow night and what comes after that as we begin the election cycle for the control of our House and our Senate, the Congress, starting next Tuesday night when primaries begin?

I can't imagine you not speaking out when you see something wrong.

What it was in the beginning is that I would see him at these rallies saying things like to say, I want to punch him in the face.

How dare you say that? You want to punch somebody in the face.

I realized this guy's got a real problem.

Much worse than I ever thought.

You're bound to create bad situations by doing that.

That's not a person who cares about everybody, who's trying to unite everybody.

And in its comeback after 9-11, I keep thinking about, you know, if people who don't respect the truth, if people who don't respect the FBI, people who don't respect the Department of Justice, what do you worry about for our city with these guys in charge?

Is it true you met Scorsese as a teenager? 'Cause you grew up in the same Lower East Side neighborhood? Is that true?

Yeah, we, we didn't hang out together, but we knew each other's group, and um, we had a mutual friend who actually, uh, was in the movie, named Robert Ricola, he sadly passed away a few months ago.

I, I, I was doing a, a documentary, and he used to go between my group and his and, you know, we would talk and he'd tell me that Marty's going to NYU, and he's directing this and so on, and this and that.

And, and, um, so I did a, um, I was part of a documentary about Scorsese that I don't know when it'll come out, but with Rebecca Miller, Arthur Miller's daughter, and I, um, we had a, a kind of a reunion meeting in the Cafe Roma in Little Italy, and with these two guys that I know and Marty knows, um, Frank Piccirillo and, and Robert Ricola, and, and Marty, and we were talking, reminiscing.

And then, um, um, I said to Barry Levinson after, after we, um, we had, we were st- we were just starting to do the casting.

I said, "Barry, I have two friends, uh, old friends that, you know, they might be good for this, and they'll add a lot of real texture and, and they'd be good, I think.

You know, do you mind meeting them?" And he said, "No, no, I'll meet them," and he met them, and then he read with them, and I read with them, and, and uh, he used them both.

Mm-hmm.