- Aubrey Plaza said that she "freaked out" Robert De Niro while filming "Dirty Grandpa."
- She said she could only speak to him while on set, which is when she liked to stay in character.
Aubrey Plaza said that she "freaked out" Robert De Niro when she first met him while filming "Dirty Grandpa."
The pair starred in the 2016 comedy, in which Plaza plays a character who is obsessed with having sex with De Niro's character because he is a college professor.
Plaza explained during a panel discussion at the London Film Festival Monday that she was unable to speak to De Niro before filming their scenes together, which meant the "Goodfellas" actor first met her while she was in character.
"I created the character for myself, and I wanted to make the most of it. I'm working with De Niro. I'm playing his love interest. Nothing's going to stop me," Plaza said, as reported by Deadline. "But I didn't get time with him. There wasn't time to get to know him or anything like that. He shows up like a puff of smoke when he's shooting. There's no chatting at the water cooler. When he shows up, it's time to shoot."
The "Parks and Recreation" star recalled that she was "all over" De Niro in order to build on-screen chemistry but her costar may have misinterpreted her performance with her real personality.
"My character had one goal, which is to have sex with him. That was my motivation," she said. "And I'm wearing a wig in the film. I was acting totally insane like the character because we were about to shoot. I stayed in character because that's what I do. I don't think he understood that that wasn't me. You'd think he would because he's an actor and a great actor."
Plaza continued: "Most of our scenes were making out and saying dirty stuff to each other. It was ridiculous."
Plaza said she eventually got to speak to De Niro properly a few months after they started filming when he invited the cast and crew to his home for lunch. She added that the 79-year-old actor didn't recognize her at first but once she reintroduced herself, they became friends.
This is not the first time Plaza has brought up how she accidentally made De Niro uncomfortable on set.
In 2016, she said on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" that at one point, the director of the film, Dan Mazer, tried to get Plaza to suck on De Niro's nipples.
"I'd try to get in there and suck on his nipples, and he was like batting me away, and I didn't know if it was in character or not," she said. "And then they cut the camera and [the director] called me back and was like, 'Bob does not like his nipple area paid attention to.' I was like, 'Great, now he thinks that I wanted to do that.'"