Aubrey Plaza on ‘Weirding Out’ Robert De Niro in ‘Dirty Grandpa’: ‘I Did Some Questionable Things I Wouldn’t Do Anymore’

variety.com:

Ella Kemp Guest Contributor Aubrey Plaza has opened up about “weirding out” Robert De Niro when the pair worked together in 2016’s “Dirty Grandpa.” The actor and producer addressed years of swirling rumors about “being weird” and spoke about her commitment to her films at every stage of the process during a London Film Festival ScreenTalk session hosted by Leigh Singer, ahead of the release of Plaza’s new film “Emily The Criminal”.

Reflecting on her working relationship with the “Raging Bull” actor (the two actors played lovers in Dan Mazer’s gross-out comedy), Plaza clarified that any way De Niro could have been offended by her behavior would have been due to her staying committed to her character. “I didn’t really have a relationship with him off camera because he’s him,” Plaza said when asked about how well she and De Niro knew each other. “I didn’t have time to get to know him, he shows up in a puff of smoke and there’s no chatting at the water cooler.” The actor explained how focused she remains when playing character — in that film, as the provocative Lenore — and that any experience De Niro had with her was when she was Lenore. “By the time he’d show up, I’m in character.

My character had one goal: To have sex with him. I was acting totally insane as the character because we were about to shoot.

I don’t think he understood that wasn’t me. You’d think he would because he’s an actor and an amazing one.” Plaza said one of her agents “heard Bob’s a little freaked out,” and that later in the shoot De Niro hosted a lunch for the cast and crew and didn’t know who Plaza was as she was no longer in character. “I showed up and he’s like, ‘Who are you sweetheart?’ and after that he was normal.