DeNiro and 50 Cent on Acting

VIBE magazine featured an article and interview with Robert DeNiro and 50 Cent because they are set to appear in the film Righteous Kill (with Pacino as well). The interview amuses me for a few reasons. Primarily because DeNiro is an artist who was trained by Stella Adler and who's largely considered one of the greatest film actors of all time. And 50 Cent became famous for writing these lyrics:

We gon' party like it's yo birthday
We gon' sip Bacardi like it's your birthday
And you know we don't give a f**k
It's not your birthday!

Vibe gives the two equal billing in the article and a few moments strike me. First, I find it amusing that DeNiro calls 50 "Curtis". I can imagine that conversation went like this:

RD: How ya doing? I'm Robert.
50: I'm 50 Cent.
RD: What's your mother call you?
50: Curtis.
RD: Right. You ready to do this, Curtis?

Here's an actual exchange from the interview:

VIBE: When you're a method actor, you pull from your own experiences, thing that have affected you -- are you pulling from those things?

Curtis jumps in first.

50: Absolutely, I mean... I've chosen roles I can actually relate to.
RD: ...People can identify with the character, [then] make it specific based on their own experience.

My favorite part:

RD: Imagine that you've not killed somebody, but you imagine the details, the specifics of that, that's what makes it special.

I love that when DeNiro is in a conversation with 50 Cent he has to draw a hypothetical picture of an actor who has not actually killed anyone. Then later:

VIBE: (to DeNiro) 50 has made clear how the hard times he's gone through have led him to be the gangster rapper he is and to play the kind of roles he plays. Your upbringing was more... artistic. I wonder - to where are you reaching?
RD: Well, I've had other experiences in my life that were... for want of a better way of putting it, street oriented.
VIBE: Wait a minute, is Robert DeNiro saying he was running the streets.
50: Orientated... he said he's street-orientated.

That's right, DeNiro uses a real word, which Curtis then repeats incorrectly, twice.

Also notable in the article are the credits:

DeNiro:Styled by Aude Bronson Howard, Groomed by Lynda Eichner
50 Cent: Styled by Mia Maddox, Groomed by Lionel "Lyte" Jones
Prop Styling by Amy Henry
Fashion Director: Memsor Kamarake'

So you apparently need six people (including one dedicated solely to finding a baseball bat for 50 to hold) to prepare two guys for four photos. And yet they look the same as they do every other time I've seen them. And really... if your job title is "Groomer" do you really need the nickname "Lyte". It's pretty much implied.

That's all I have to say about that.