For the film "Being Flynn," Robert De Niro took on the role of man past his prime, disconnected from his family and living on the streets. It's a character he didn't immediately relate to, but he portrayed convincingly -- even off-screen.
"The father is kind of a guy that in some ways I don't understand because he's totally abandoned, in a sense, and self-involved… and he becomes homeless eventually," the two-time Oscar winner explained during a Wednesday morning visit to TODAY. "To me he's somebody who's been avoiding his whole life what he wants to do."
De Niro, on the other hand, knows exactly what he wants to do and does it well. He's a veteran actor known for disappearing into his characters, and in the case of "Flynn," he did just that.
While taking a break from filming and still in costume as the homeless Jonathan Flynn, the star attempted to enter The Greenwich Hotel, but he was turned away at the door. It was a surprising twist for De Niro, who actually owns the TriBeCa spot.
"I didn't blame the security," he said with a smile. "They didn't want me in. I said, 'I wouldn't want somebody like myself in.'"
"Being Flynn" opens in theaters nationwide on March 16.
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