Why Chazz Palminteri Trusted Robert De Niro With Directing A Bronx Tale
When you have a life story as incredible as Calogero "Chazz" Palminteri's, you have to make a movie out of it. Palminteri first told his story as a one-man show on the stage. He took the basics of his childhood and his more remarkable experiences, such as witnessing a murder at age nine or being friendly with the neighborhood gangsters, and turned them into a coming-of-age story.
On stage, "A Bronx Tale" was all Palminteri. To bring it to the screen though, he would need help. He ultimately found his creative partner in Robert De Niro. Both men shaped the film behind and in front of the camera. Palminteri adapted his show into the film's screenplay and played Sonny, the boss who takes young Calogero (Francis Capra/Lillo Brancato, Jr.) under his wing. De Niro directed and played Palminteri's own father Lorenzo, a strait-laced bus driver. The project became a crown jewel of De Niro's filmography.
Palminteri was understandably protective of his story. When offered $1 million to sign away the movie rights and let someone else play Sonny, he said no.
Handshake deal
Both Palminteri and De Niro have recounted how they agreed to make "A Bronx Tale" together. Palminteri told his side of the story to The AV Club:
"I did a performance, and someone told me that Robert De Niro had seen the show and was waiting in my dressing room wanting to see me. So I walk in, Bob was sitting in my chair, and he said—quote— 'This is one of the greatest one-man shows I've ever seen, if not the greatest ... This is a movie, this is an incredible movie.'"
When Palminteri mentioned that he wanted to play Sonny, De Niro not only agreed but encouraged him to do so. From there, they shook hands and agreed to make the movie as partners: "So I shook [De Niro's] hand, and that's the way it was."
What brought De Niro to that performance? He graced Interview magazine with the story:
"My trainer told me about it four or five years ago, so I told Jane [Rosenthal, De Niro's partner at Tribeca Productions] to go see it when she was in L.A. She said, 'Yeah, it's very good, but Chazz wants to play the part of Sonny himself if it's made into a film.' At first, I didn't want anything in the ingredients if I did a film of it—I wanted a totally clean slate—but I saw it and liked it and liked Chazz."
While De Niro ensured that "A Bronx Tale" was made in line with Palminteri's wishes, his personal stamp on the film is there. He even dedicated the film to his own father, the painter Robert De Niro Sr., who died a few months before the film's release. Even that memorial was in line with the theme of Palminteri's story: fathers and sons.