The 30th anniversary celebration of the comedy featuring De Niro as a comedian who kidnaps Lewis was held at the film festival on April 27 night.
- Apr 29, 2013
AceShowbiz - On April 27, the 12th Tribeca Film Festival held a special screening of its founder Robert De Niro's film "The King of Comedy" to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film. The special night was completed with Jerry Lewis making an appearance to join his co-star De Niro and director Martin Scorsese on stage and bring some laughters to the audience.
"I haven't seen 'The King of Comedy', I don't think, for at least 25 years," De Niro admitted to the audience before the screening at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. "I'm very curious to see it. If I'm not too embarrassed, I'll stay here after."
The 1983 comedy, which follows De Niro's Pupkin who kidnaps Lewis' Langford in order to break into show business, is known for bringing up celebrity worship and the American media culture as its issues. "We knew we were commenting on the culture of that time, but not thinking that it would blow up into what it is now," Scorsese told the audience. "It wasn't a comedy, was it?"
After watching the film, De Niro could not help but praise his co-star and director. "I do look at it in a different way. I think Jerry was terrific," he said. "The stuff that Marty did as well. It was great to watch. When I watch a movie 25 or 30 years after I do it, I can get a little objectivity."
Earlier, the festival saw Kim Mordaunt's displaced Laotian boy tale "The Rocket" winning the audience award for narrative feature. Meanwhile, the audience award for documentary went to Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's "Bridegroom", which highlights same-sex couples' issues.
