Robert De Niro’s “Saturday Night Live” appearances as special counsel Robert Mueller are about more than just laughs for the actor with multiple Oscars.
As he revealed during a Hollywood Reporter In Studio interview, he views it his responsibility.
“I consider it my civic duty to do that part – just to be there, ’cause (Mueller) doesn’t say much, but he doesn’t have to. It’s that simple,” he said of his character, who was equal parts Mueller and Jack Byrnes, his ex-CIA officer dad from “Meet the Parents.”
De Niro added that just being “present” felt like a form of activism. ” ‘Cause to me and to many of us, Mueller represented justice,” he added, “and he still does”.
Asked if his Mueller would make any more appearances on “SNL,” the Oscar winner said that depends on whether the prosecutor remains involved after handing in his report on the Russia investigation.
But he already sensed an opening: “If Mueller testifies in front of Congress, then maybe there will be some skits that we’ll see,” he said.
De Niro’s Mueller was last seen on the March 30 episode of “SNL,” looking slightly more forlorn than usual after submitting his final report to Attorney General William Barr, or as Aidy Bryant, the actress who played him, put it, “the guy who’s been here a month.”
The skit cut between De Niro’s Mueller reading his report, Bryant’s Barr summarizing – and, as some argue, oversimplifying – Mueller’s 300-page report into his four-page memo and Alec Baldwin’s President Trump gloating about it on Twitter.
Whereas Mueller reiterated that his special counsel had drawn no conclusions around whether or not President Donald Trump obstructed justice, and could not prove a criminal connection to Russia, Barr simply declared, “No collusion, no diggity, no doubt!”
The “Raging Bull” star has been outspoken with his criticism of Trump for years.
In a 2017 interview with USA TODAY for his Bernie Madoff HBO movie, “The Wizard of Lies,” De Niro referred to the president as “a bad con artist.” De Niro also memorably dropped f-bombs at the Tony Awards in 2018, exclaiming (expletive) Trump!”
Contributing: Andrea Mandell, Patrick Ryan and Maeve McDermott
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