Leslie Mann And Robert De Niro Star In First Trailer For THE COMEDIAN

An aging comic icon, JACKIE BURKE (Robert De Niro) has seen better days. Despite his efforts to reinvent himself and his comic genius, the audience only wants to know him as the former television character he once played. Already a strain on his younger brother (Danny DeVito) and his wife (Patti LuPone), Jackie is forced to serve out a sentence doing community service for accosting an audience member. While there, he meets HARMONY (Leslie Mann), the daughter of a sleazy Florida real estate mogul (Harvey Keitel), and the two find inspiration in one another resulting in surprising consequences. Through the alchemy of their unlikely friendship, Harmony and Jackie overcome their own emotional damage and emerge as better people.

Jackie Burke, embodied by De Niro in THE COMEDIAN, has been struggling for years to get back to the place he most wants to be—at the mic in a club where the comedy is cutting edge and the audience is hip and appreciative. Like its central character, THE COMEDIAN is a triumph of tenacity. Back in 2009, the original concept sprang from conversations and ideas shared by De Niro and his friend and colleague ART LINSON, screenwriter and producer of THE COMEDIAN. Today, director Taylor Hackford’s new drama about comedy illuminates Jackie’s journey.

De Niro, legendary for immersing himself in his characters and their environments, transformed himself into a veteran stand-up performer through intensive and physical training, coaching and practice. With characteristic understatement, De Niro says simply, “Actors aren’t comics. It’s a very different way of performing. Working with comics was very helpful—getting the timing and movement right, the mic handling, working on delivery.”

Hackford elaborates: “We’ve never seen Robert De Niro like this before. From the very first club scene, if the audience doesn’t believe that he’s a comedian, there’s no movie.”

THE COMEDIAN will have a one week qualifying run in LA/NY theaters beginning Dec 2nd. Opens in NY/LA January 13th.