'Zero Day' executive producer Eric Newman interviews star Robert De Niro for The Hollywood Reporter about the limited series. De Niro reveals what attracted him to this role, how the plot of the show mirrored real-life political events and more.
00:00You can have differences, you can be upset with each other, but at the end of the day, you wind up working it out.
00:04Otherwise, the country stagnates and the public suffers from it.
00:11Hello, I'm Eric Newman, the co-creator and executive producer of Zero Day.
00:16I'm sitting with Robert De Niro, who is the executive producer and star of Zero Day, and we're here for The Hollywood Reporter.
00:243,402 people died.
00:30The pilot plays out like a mini-movie and sets up the premise of the show.
00:35How quickly were you attracted to this role and why?
00:39Did you have any hesitations or notes?
00:41No, I didn't.
00:43When we spoke and met first and then you came back with these episodes little by little, they were all good.
00:52I said, this is good, smart, and the people writing, you and everybody else, Michael Schmidt, Noah,
00:59Oppenheim, you knew what you were writing about, and so that was encouraging.
01:05He's a deeply troubled man.
01:10I'm on to you, Georgie.
01:12Your character, George Mullen, is a political hero who brings together both sides of the aisle.
01:18Who did you pull from for inspiration?
01:20Not that I pulled from anybody, though there could have been, of course, people.
01:24I was just pulling from my own feelings about those things.
01:28And what would seem to me would be right on both sides, from either character, either side, the participants of either side, what they're doing and then what my character would be doing.
01:41And interacting with the character, whether they're on my side of the aisle or on the other side of the aisle.
01:49I just felt that there had to be more of an honesty between people in order to get anything done.
01:57Doing the right thing.
01:58Doing the right thing.
02:00I'm worried that you don't have this under control.
02:03How did you react to the Zero Day Plot mirroring real life when Biden stepped aside for Harris?
02:11Yeah, well, it's interesting.
02:12It's interesting that it did mirror.
02:16We had done it actually before.
02:17Way before, yeah.
02:18It actually happened with Biden.
02:21And, you know, it's one of those things.
02:30It's kind of odd, huh?
02:31Yeah.
02:31With our real-life country so divided and after playing this character who's an aspiration and nostalgic for what things could be again, do you have hope that our country could return to such a place of unity?
02:42Well, of course I have hope.
02:44I would like nothing better.
02:46I think everybody would like that.
02:50But some people wouldn't.
02:51And that's, to me, not understanding.
02:53I don't understand why anybody wouldn't want that because that's the only way you can move forward and get things done.
02:59And that's the way it should be.
03:01I don't, you know, you can have differences.
03:04You can be upset with each other.
03:05But at the end of the day, you wind up working it out.
03:08Otherwise, the country stagnates and the public suffers from it.
03:14Yeah.
03:15Do you think he's being set up?
03:17Another attack could happen at any moment.
03:19Could Zero Day be a multi-season show or was the limited series part of the appeal for you?
03:26I guess, you know, limited was part of the appeal just to do it because it's like doing three speeches at once.
03:33Yeah.
03:33It's a lot of work.
03:34It's a lot of work.
03:35Whether it could be more shows is what you're saying.
03:40I don't know.
03:41Now that Donald Trump has been re-elected, do you feel this show will land or resonate differently with audiences?
03:47That's a good question.
03:48I don't know.
03:50Prove to me, you are a sound mind or I will tell the country that you are not.
03:55How selective are you with taking on roles now and what are you looking to take on next?
03:59I'm not sure what I'm doing.
04:01I'm looking at something now, but I haven't.
04:03I just started reading it.
04:04I'll just see.
04:06I've been sort of trying to take it easy.
04:08And with everything going on, the election, this and that, it's been a lot of, a lot.
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