Robert De Niro is getting attention this week for his Tribeca Film Festival, but his late father, Robert De Niro Sr., will soon be in the spotlight.
Former WNBC anchor Perri Peltz produced and co-directed “Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro Sr.” for HBO, presenting a preview of the doc in Washington, DC, Friday, before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
De Niro’s dad was an abstract expressionist painter, shown alongside Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell. But the senior De Niro didn’t become a household name.
“This has been a labor of love for Bob,” said a source. “He’s collected his family home movies and archives — his dad’s paintings.”
We hear the film also includes rare footage of the “Raging Bull” star as a young man.
“Bob’s rise as an actor was meteoric when he was very young,” our source said. “His father had [only] a moment in the sun. Bob wanted to give his father the recognition he never got. This is an homage to his talent.”
HBO will host a premiere for the film on June 5 at MoMA, followed by a dinner and DC Moore Gallery exhibition, where De Niro Sr.’s work will be on display and for sale.