Robert De Niro‘s beloved pet dogs play a unique role in his latest crime drama.
During an appearance on Tuesday, March 18’s episode of the Today show, De Niro’s The Alto Knights costar, Debra Messing, 56, spoke about two of the iconic actor’s pooches appearing in the gangster film.
The Will & Grace actress discussed how she and De Niro play husband and wife Frank and Bobbie Costello in the movie. The onscreen couple doesn’t have children, but they do have two very well-dressed pups.
She said of working with the dogs, “It was incredible. First of all, they are Bob’s real dogs. Those are his dogs, which made me laugh so hard. He walked in with these little dogs. I was like, ‘Okay, this doesn’t compute.’ But it was amazing.”
Messing shared, “I had a scene where I was by myself, and they don’t have children, and I said, ‘Bob, you know, the dogs are our kids. Can I borrow your dogs?’ He said, ‘You want to borrow my dogs?’ I was like, ‘Yeah!’ He goes, ‘Yeah.’ ”
“So the dogs got a much, much bigger role than was originally intended. They were also dressed in mink coats,” Messing continued.
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During her Today interview, the actress called De Niro, 81, “a gentleman,” adding, “He’s kind and he’s funny. It was the greatest privilege of my life to play a mob boss’ wife opposite Robert De Niro.”
The actor portrays gangsters Vito Genovese and Frank Costello in The Alto Knights, which follows the two notorious New York organized crime bosses as they “vie for control of the city’s streets,” per a synopsis.
“Once the best of friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals place them on a deadly collision course that will reshape the Mafia (and America) forever,” it adds.
Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
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Messing’s Today show comments come after De Niro spoke about his canine stars and their roles in the film during an appearance on The One Show on Thursday, March 13.
“It was in the script so, my girlfriend, we have a lot of dogs, so she said, ‘Maybe you could put these dogs in or one of them?’ ” he said, referencing his partner, Tiffany Chen.
“I said, ‘OK, let me introduce them to Barry Levinson, the director,’ ” De Niro, whose dog Nancy appeared in his 2022 movie Amsterdam, said.
Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
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“They had to audition!” Messing laughed, as De Niro insisted, “Barry met them [and] he liked them and he said, ‘OK.’ ”
“So then we somehow got into a thing of how they would dress,” the two-time Oscar-winner said. “And since it was cold weather, walking them in the park, it seemed to make sense that, with these characters, the dogs would wear something to protect them.”
“And if they were going to wear something to protect them, it might as well be mink. So that’s what we outfitted them, with mink coats and hats,” he said of the pups, who recently joined the cast at the movie’s New York City premiere on Saturday, March 15.
The Alto Knights is in theaters March 21.
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